Robin PottratzIs a relaunching of "The Crow" morally wrong?
December 20th 2008 23:37
Over the past few years, films based on comic books have become an incredibly popular and lucrative new film genre. Each new comic film that has been released typically has a large budget and a built in fan following to go along with it. The quality of these films are very hit and miss. Most are commercially successful but some are not quite as significant artistically. One such film that stands out as both an artistic and commercial success is Alex Proyas' 1994 adaptation of James O'Barr's gothic comic book "The Crow."
"The Crow" tells the story of a goth rocker named Eric Draven who along with his fiance are brutally murdered by thugs in his apartment. One year later Draven comes back from the grave to exact his revenge on those who took his one true love. Alex Proyas' film is a stunning achievement, using the gothic industrial backdrop that was popular in the early nineties to tell the story of love and retribution. What made the film work on as high of a level as it did was the beautiful, breakthrough, and tragically final performance of Brandon Lee as Draven.
The sad irony of "The Crow" is that it is known more for the fact that star Brandon Lee was accidentally shot eight days before the film was scheduled to wrap when the tip of a dummy bullet was lodged in a prop gun. When the gun, loaded with a blank, was fired at Lee, the dummy tip went right into Lee's abdomen, he died 12 hours later. At the time, many people viewed releasing the film as exploitation, that would be true if Lee wasn't so brilliant in the film. Lee's death, coupled with strong reviews allowed the R-rated, dark, gothic, ultra-violent comic book film to debut at number one at the box office in 1994 with an opening weekend of $11.7 million ($19.9 million adjusted for 2008) and word of mouth allowed the film to end up grossing $50.6 million total domestically ($85 million adjusted for 2008).
With the success of the 1994 original, it should have been left alone in order to serve as a tribute to Brandon Lee and his talent. Sadly, greedy studio heads wouldn't allow that to happen. Dimension films soon green-lit a "Crow" sequel that wasn't nearly as commercially or artistically successful as its predecessor. Despite these facts, the studio kept punching out "Crow" films, each of which just seemed more blasphemous to the original film as well as to the memory of Brandon Lee than the one before it. Eventually the "Crow" series ceased to be and many thought that would be the end of the road for James O'Barr's famous vigilante on the big screen, which seemed like it would be for the best.
That is until this week. Ryan Kavanaugh, head of Relativity Media, is currently in negotiations with "Crow" Producer Ed Pressman to acquire the rights to the film franchise. In fact, Kavanaugh has already signed Director Stephen Norrington ("Blade", "League of Extraordinary Gentleman") to write and direct a "Crow" relaunch. This may not be a great idea as most people were introduced to "The Crow" with Proyas' film and Brandon Lee and their loyalty to keeping Lee's memory honored may prevent them from seeing the film.
Another cruel irony involved in this story has to do with the similarities to another recently relaunched comic book film franchise. When asked to describe how his vision for "The Crow" would be different to that of Proyas' he gave this quote:
“Whereas Proyas’ original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style.”
That description sounds eerily similar to the style that Christopher Nolan has brought to his relaunch of the "Batman" series. What makes it so cruelly ironic is that Nolan also had to spearhead a film in which the star of the film was killed prematurely and the film had to be released posthumously.
From where I sit, I think that a relaunch of "The Crow" would be simply wrong. The original film was so brilliant that I am not sure how it could be improved. The most important reason of all that "The Crow" should not be relaunched is that it would be viewed by many (myself included) as disrespectful to the memory of Brandon Lee. Lee's breakthrough performance in "The Crow" was nothing short of remarkable and every person that views the original film will see it as a powerful tribute to an immense talent. To remake the film would water down the memory of Lee and that is just wrong.
No matter what objections that I or any other fan of the original film may have, the greed of studio heads will prevail. "The Crow" will be relaunched and probably make a substantial profit. However, I recommend that any reader of this post (if you haven't already) go out and rent Alex Proyas' original masterpiece and marvel at the talent of Brandon Lee...a young talent who was simply taken way too soon.
"The Crow" tells the story of a goth rocker named Eric Draven who along with his fiance are brutally murdered by thugs in his apartment. One year later Draven comes back from the grave to exact his revenge on those who took his one true love. Alex Proyas' film is a stunning achievement, using the gothic industrial backdrop that was popular in the early nineties to tell the story of love and retribution. What made the film work on as high of a level as it did was the beautiful, breakthrough, and tragically final performance of Brandon Lee as Draven.
The sad irony of "The Crow" is that it is known more for the fact that star Brandon Lee was accidentally shot eight days before the film was scheduled to wrap when the tip of a dummy bullet was lodged in a prop gun. When the gun, loaded with a blank, was fired at Lee, the dummy tip went right into Lee's abdomen, he died 12 hours later. At the time, many people viewed releasing the film as exploitation, that would be true if Lee wasn't so brilliant in the film. Lee's death, coupled with strong reviews allowed the R-rated, dark, gothic, ultra-violent comic book film to debut at number one at the box office in 1994 with an opening weekend of $11.7 million ($19.9 million adjusted for 2008) and word of mouth allowed the film to end up grossing $50.6 million total domestically ($85 million adjusted for 2008).
With the success of the 1994 original, it should have been left alone in order to serve as a tribute to Brandon Lee and his talent. Sadly, greedy studio heads wouldn't allow that to happen. Dimension films soon green-lit a "Crow" sequel that wasn't nearly as commercially or artistically successful as its predecessor. Despite these facts, the studio kept punching out "Crow" films, each of which just seemed more blasphemous to the original film as well as to the memory of Brandon Lee than the one before it. Eventually the "Crow" series ceased to be and many thought that would be the end of the road for James O'Barr's famous vigilante on the big screen, which seemed like it would be for the best.
That is until this week. Ryan Kavanaugh, head of Relativity Media, is currently in negotiations with "Crow" Producer Ed Pressman to acquire the rights to the film franchise. In fact, Kavanaugh has already signed Director Stephen Norrington ("Blade", "League of Extraordinary Gentleman") to write and direct a "Crow" relaunch. This may not be a great idea as most people were introduced to "The Crow" with Proyas' film and Brandon Lee and their loyalty to keeping Lee's memory honored may prevent them from seeing the film.
Another cruel irony involved in this story has to do with the similarities to another recently relaunched comic book film franchise. When asked to describe how his vision for "The Crow" would be different to that of Proyas' he gave this quote:
“Whereas Proyas’ original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style.”
That description sounds eerily similar to the style that Christopher Nolan has brought to his relaunch of the "Batman" series. What makes it so cruelly ironic is that Nolan also had to spearhead a film in which the star of the film was killed prematurely and the film had to be released posthumously.
From where I sit, I think that a relaunch of "The Crow" would be simply wrong. The original film was so brilliant that I am not sure how it could be improved. The most important reason of all that "The Crow" should not be relaunched is that it would be viewed by many (myself included) as disrespectful to the memory of Brandon Lee. Lee's breakthrough performance in "The Crow" was nothing short of remarkable and every person that views the original film will see it as a powerful tribute to an immense talent. To remake the film would water down the memory of Lee and that is just wrong.
No matter what objections that I or any other fan of the original film may have, the greed of studio heads will prevail. "The Crow" will be relaunched and probably make a substantial profit. However, I recommend that any reader of this post (if you haven't already) go out and rent Alex Proyas' original masterpiece and marvel at the talent of Brandon Lee...a young talent who was simply taken way too soon.
"The Crow
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