They are doing a remake (eeeek), I don't know if it's still going forward, but it got me thinking.

When it went from cult to mainstream, some turned their backs on it and some became even more protective of it. Do you find The Crow one of the staples of goth subculture? Or a dated cliche you don't care for? (I must admit, the cliches are my favourite part)

Is The Crow THE goth superhero/anti-hero? Or do you prefer an alternative?

How would you feel about the remake? Any actor ideas?

The problem with remakes of classics is that people don't even expect it to be anywhere near the original version. The thing with The Crow is that after almost 20 years people still know and like this movie, so it's still not outdated and Eric is still an icon. Plus, movie is surrounded by the theme of tragedy.

If Brandon was alive a remake would have a chance for fair comparison. Instead, despite movie having it's own dark atmosphere the effect is multiplied by the irony of how similar the fate of an actor was to that of his character. Unless someone dies in new production - they won't get the same effect.

furthermore - now they would probably use the same flashy ideas as in new Batman movies - where these actually work, but The Crow is not suppose to be dark in this new-tech, flashy way. It's suppose to be depressing-dark, more like a drama than an action movie. My bet - they'd screw it up.

Unless - Tim Burton as a Director, Depp as an Eric. It would come up even more twisted, sinister and impossible to compare - so it would be a brand new movie, based on the same story. And I would love that!

Just like the remake of Hellraiser, I'll be avoiding a Crow remake. After all of the bad remakes over the past few years I have simply stopped going a movies when the words remake or reimagining are used to describe a movie. Seeing a bad Crow or Hellraiser remake would turn me off to movies as a whole. There is also talk of a Lost Boys remake. Not Cool!

I heard that they were taking the 'gothic' out of the remake and making it more mainstream and action oriented with a biography type touch to the character of Eric Draven. For these reasons, it does not appeal to me. I'll likely watch it, but I'm not sure yet. I honestly don't think I'll enjoy it. I love the original too much.

So they take somthing that has been a part of the gothic coulture for years and turn it into somthing "for the whole family" that sucks.


its like we are not allowed to have anything for ourselves without mainstream media coming in and messing it up

Yeah according to Wikipedia:



That's not very attractive to me.

The Crow is a classic and I definitely consider it a staple, but not a requirement because I know there are a lot of gothic standards I never got into(I've never been a a fan of The Cure or Bauhaus and I don't think I ever will be). Still, Batman will forever be my favorite gothic anti-hero.

I'm open to remakes in general; some end up good and some bad.

I still like The Crow. I don't think it's possible for a remake to be better than the original. This new director should read the comics.

Ah, The Crow. Still one of my favorite movies. I wouldn't mind a remake if it was done right, but I have serious doubts about it living up to the original. Let them remake it, The Crow has survived a few sequels, novels, and a monster-of-the-week T.V. series. If it sucks, then whatever.

I dunno if I'd consider it a staple of goth culture, but it's definitely been one of the influences that got me interested in the culture. I still like Batman just a teensy bit more though.

There's been several crow movies including a couple remakes of the original already. The reason why they all [after the first] sucked so bad [and let's not even mention the tv miniseries], and the same reason why Brandon died, was because they were always done as bottom barrel practically zero-budget productions that pretty much set them up to fail from the very beginning.

If they were willing to put a decent budget & effort into a remake I don't have a problem with it. But I really, really hope this isn't another attempt at an A-grade movie with an F-grade budget.

I know what will happen: The emos/ goth-poseurs/ Hot topic/Manson/ young metal crowd will claim it and it will become synonymous with self-abuse and violence, the soccer-moms will take action and before you know it, it will be put on a shelf and become a thing to be loathed by us in the future.....OR... it is way to mainstream, the same thing happens but the soccer-moms get less involved and the word goth will get thrown around loosely,evanescence gets on the soundtrack and we have new poseurs on our hands....OR....*gulp* It turns into another modern Gothic(and i use that term loosely) antihero story, just like twilight, either way MTV might get its dirty paws on it...like mentioned earlier, its only hope is Burton, otherwise it is hopeless...just my opinion, don't mean to sound elitist, but you get my point...

Anyone suggesting Burton is wrong. There's no other way to put it. The man has outright stated that he never has and never will read a comic, so he is in no position to appreciate the source material.

Also he's not done anything interesting in, like, forever.

Don't even get me started on Johnny "Three Characters" Depp.

The second one was awesome and you know it.

City of Angels was good in spite of what the suits tried to do to/with it, not because of it. Just look at how badly they dropped the ball with all the subplots of that one, like the homeless girl Sarah was helping.

I don't know much about the production environment, but I DO know that I almost prefered it to the original in some ways.

That I can concur with. The "look and feel" of City of Angels was superior in some respects, though I absolutely adored the black tones saturating the first film. The story of the second film needed work, though. I'd have left the original ending in, instead of hacking it to bits and changing it dramatically immediately prior to release date.

Don't. Get. Me. Started. On the cinematic abortions that were named Salvation and Wicked Prayer. The final film had some value as a comedic B-film worthy of being screened before friends and ridiculed MST3K-style, and if the RiffTrax guys haven't riffed it yet, they should. Aside from that, those last two films made me wish I could fire anyone in Hollyweird I please.

I think I've already said something about the remake somewhere online (my memory has been on the fritz again lately; must install more RAM later), but given what has leaked out from Hollyweird about the remake, I am not enthused. Let's examine this tangled mess, shall we?

• 14 December 2008 - Steven Norrington, sub-par British filmmaker who gave us Blade (yay!) and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (meh), declares his intentions to "reinvent" The Crow (does it need reinventing?) by making it less Gothic than the original and giving his version a "realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style". Naturally, Norrington planned to both write and direct what would certainly have become the most dissed reboot of all time that would probably have had us bats bitching about how Hollywood seems to hate us. [Source: Variety]
• 25 November 2009 - Relativity Media producer Ryan Kavanaugh said, "Aww, yeah, bring that shit on!" and began negotiating with Edward R. Pressman, producer of the original film, for filming rights for the reboot. Casting began in earnest. [Source: io9]
• 22 November 2010 - Actor Mark Wahlberg denies rumors that he was ever in talks to portray Eric Draven in the reboot. [Source: moviefone]
• 7 April 2011 - By this time, Norrington had (thank Goth!) dropped out of the project and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, director of the abysmal 28 Weeks Later, had stepped in and bad-ass rocker Nick Cave was allegedly working on the script (!!!), though another writer would probably have been brought in to rework his draft. [Source: The Hollywood Reporter]
• 13 April 2011 - Actor Bradley Cooper was rumored to be in the lead to play Eric Draven. [Source: ScreenRant]
• 20 April 2011 - Almost immediately after Relativity brought in Fresnadillo and began rumored negotiations with Cooper, Relativity hit legal trouble with The Weinstein Company, who apparently already had a contract to do another The Crow film extant prior to Relativity's negotiations for film rights. (I'm guessing someone at The Weinstein Company saw the Hollywood press releases and thought, "They're giving it to the 28 Weeks Later guy? Aw, fuck no!") Source: The Playlist]
• 22 June 2011 - Relativity Media states they're going ahead with the film, legal issues or no. ("We smell money in this project! Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!") Cooper was still linked to the film, and Relativity brought in Alex Tse, co-writer of the script for Watchmen, to work on the script. [Source: Bloody Disgusting]
• 15 August 2012 - Bradley Cooper drops out of the project, and rumors that Mark Wahlberg has been tapped to portray Draven - rumors which have been flying about and which have been constantly denied by Wahlberg since the project's onset - resurface. Channing Tatum is also allegedly in talks to take the lead. [Sources: The Hollywood Reporter & ScreenRant]
• 14 October 2011 - Director Fresnadillo says, "Fuck this, I'm out!" and millions of The Crow fans breathe a collective sigh of relief. ("Yay! He won't be around to ruin the film!"} Alex Tse is still involved, and rumors begin circulating that Before the Fall director F. Javier Gutiérrez is in talks to direct and that actor Ryan Gosling is also being considered for the role of Eric Draven. [Sources: MovieWeb, Fangoria & ScreenRant]
• 14 November 2011 - A month after Fresnadillo's exit, magnificently Gothic screen art showing Bradley Cooper as Eric Draven - painted by comic artist Diego Latorre - is leaked, showing the movie that might have been. [Source: MovieWeb]
• 24 January 2012 - Legal battles with The Weinstein Company end and Relativity Media is given the green light for The Crow reboot. Relativity Media closes the deal with Gutiérrez, confirming him as the film's director. Hollywood newcomer Jesse Wigutow - infamous for his work on Eragon - is signed to script the film. [Sources: The Guardian & The Hollywood Reporter]
• 28 May 2012 - Producer Edward R. Pressman goes on record with his vision of the reboot:
  Quote:

  The current film is a 'reinvention' of James O'Barr's graphic novel for the 21st Century. We're thrilled to have teamed with director Javier Gutierrez and screenwriter Jesse Wigutow on this story, which remains true to the core of Eric Draven's plight for revenge. Giving too much away wouldn't be any fun. 'Disorder, chaos, anarchy -- now that's fun!'
  A release date has not yet been announced. [Source: Comic Book Movie]

As of 30 June, Relativity Media has reassured fans that they are still moving ahead with the project.

While I normally respect Relativity Media and have enjoyed many of their films, and I have heard nothing but good about Gutiérrez's work and have complete faith that he'll keep the visual style and tone of the film as close to the original film as possible, the real issue for me is the bloody script. Wigutow is a total noob, and his resume does not inspire confidence (especially with Eragon staining his record). If he is only the author of the final working copy and is basing his work off of what was penned earlier by Nick Cave and (possibly reworked or re-written entirely) by Alex Tse, then we may have a damn good film on our hands. If not and Wigutow is being brought in to rewrite the entire film... I shudder to think what could happen. Will the remake be even worse than Salvation and Wicked Prayer? No, nothing could ever be that bad (lest it be a remake of Manos: The Hands of Fate that somehow had an ill-advised Eric Draven cameo). It probably wouldn't be a very good film, though, not by any standard (and decidedly not as good as or better than the original), though it'll at least be pretty to look at.