Movies
‘The Crow’ Remake Dies Before Resurrection
If you’re a film purist who has been rooting against remakes, this is the Hollywood God’s gift to you.
Amidst news that Relativity Media is declaring bankruptcy, the remake of James O’Barr’s The Crow has been “iced,” putting the long-gestured reboot on hold once again.
Production on the remake of cult classic has been “suspended,” multiple sources close to the film tell ScreenDaily.
Pre-production on the multi-million pound feature, which was due to be the first shot at Pinewood Cardiff, has halted, with crew having vacated the studio this week following months of preparation.
While the latest delay to the anticipated film correlates with the financial woes of the film’s US backer Relativity Media, a source close to Relativity told ScreenDaily that the company still “intends to move forward with producing and releasing The Crow.”
Staff at Pinewood Cardiff are understood to be awaiting instruction as to the timetable for the troubled remake, which lost Jack Huston as its lead in June, and Luke Evans prior to that.
Replacement cast has yet to be announced on the action-fantasy, set to be directed by Corin Hardy (The Hallow), but crew working on the production confirmed to ScreenDaily that Andrea Riseborough had been expected to take on the role of the film’s villain, Top Dollar.
While a number of industry connected to the project expressed optimism to Screen that the production would still go ahead, the development comes at a time when uncertainty surrounds a number of Relativity-backed productions.
The original 1994 film The Crow centered on a murdered rock star who is resurrected in order to hunt down his killers. Brandon Lee, son of martial arts star Bruce Lee, died during the film’s production after he was shot with a defective blank.
With this latest delay, I personally expect Riseborough to exit the project, and if Hardy has anything lined up, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him move on to something else, too.
What does this mean? Well, The Crow could be heading back to square one, again.
The Broadway stage production of Paranormal Activity can’t wait to scare audiences and is acting accordingly; Deadline reports that the opening date has been bumped up several weeks.
Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Stage is coming to Broadway for a limited 20-week engagement. The first preview performance scheduled for Friday, August 14, at the August Wilson Theatre, remains in place. Now the play will officially open on Tuesday, August 25, moving up from its initial September 15 launch date.
The official synopsis: “James and Lou move from Chicago to London to escape their past, but they soon discover that places aren’t haunted, people are.”
Directed by Felix Barrett and written by playwright Levi Holloway, the stage show weaves “an original story inspired by the film franchise, Paranormal Activity reimagines the modern ghost story with an intimacy that only live theatre can provide.”
The Broadway production will follow a strictly limited pre-Broadway engagement in Boston at the Emerson Colonial Theatre from July 11 through July 30.
Both the Broadway and Boston casts will feature Cher Álvarez, Travis A. Knight, Shannon Cochran, and Andrea Syglowski. Understudies will be Caron Buinis, Caroline Hendricks, and Michael Holding.
Álvarez will play Lou, and Knight plays James.
Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Stage premiered at the Leeds Playhouse in the UK before transferring to the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End, where it received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination this year for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play.
Original Paranormal Activity stars Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat attended the Paranormal Activity play last year, and they both shared their thoughts over on Instagram.
Katie Featherston raved, “What a truly fun night seeing the new Paranormal Activity at the Ahmanson Theatre! We had a blast- so scary and so fun. The design and production was amazing and the cast did a fantastic job. Congrats to all involved!”
There’s also a brand new movie on the way.
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