No joke, The Crow is once again taking flight, this time with Bill Skarsgård starring in the “modern reimagining” that will be directed by Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman, Ghost in the Shell), Bloody Disgusting learned. Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter FKA twigs (Honeyboy) also stars.

Pulled from creator James O’Barr’s gritty comic, The Crow follows Eric Draven, who returns from the dead to track down his killers and avenge his murdered fiancé with the help of a mystical bird.

The new film is said to be a fresh take on the original material with Skarsgård playing Draven, following in the footsteps of the late Brandon Lee.

Zach Baylin, who is coming off an Oscar nomination for penning King Richard, wrote the script.

The project is well into pre-production ahead of a June start date, with shooting to take place in Prague and Munich. The budget is in the $50 million range, writes THR, who first broke the news.

“The Crow is beautiful, dark, poetic and sometimes disturbing,” says director Rupert Sanders. “It is a story of love, loss, grief and revenge.”

The Crow will be produced by Victor Hadida (Resident Evil and Silent Hill franchises), Molly Hassell (Braven starring Jason Momoa, Terminal starring Margot Robbie), John Jencks (Honest Thief, Guns Akimbo) and Edward R. Pressman (The Crow starring Brandon Lee, Academy Award-winner Wall Street, American Psycho). Production companies are Hassell Free Productions, Electric Shadow Company, Davis Films, and Edward R. Pressman Film Corporation, in association with 30WEST.

The Crow was adapted to the big screen in 1994 and was followed by three sequels and a short-lived television series. The character is somewhat of a pop culture icon and has made his way onto shirts, posters, and has been immortalized in plastic as toys.

Skarsgård is quickly becoming a genre guy, having played Pennywise the Clown in the It horror movies and also appearing in Hulu’s “Castle Rock” series, not to mention Villains and Assassination Nation.

THR breaks down the path to bring The Crow back to the big screen: “Director Stephen Norrington (Blade) was involved with one reboot, while F. Javier Gutiérrez (Before the Fall) and actor Luke Evans worked on another. Corin Hardy (The Nun) took on the task for a reboot in 2017 and got Jason Momoa to star. Then, both men left in 2018 after a clash over financial issues between producers and distributor.

Pictured: Castle Rock –“Severance” – Episode 101 — Henry Deaver, a death-row attorney, confronts his dark past when an anonymous call lures him back to his hometown of Castle Rock, Maine. Bill Skarsgard, shown. (Photo by: Patrick Harbron/Hulu)