The Crow director Rupert Sanders explains why his 2024 adaptation isn’t a remake of the 1994 Brendan Lee movie. Based on the graphic novel by James O’Barr, the 1994 film is directed by Alex Proyas, with the late Lee starring as Eric Draven, a man who returns from the dead to exact revenge upon the violent gang who murdered him and his lover. Actor Bill Skarsgård is now set to take on the role of Draven in a new take on The Crow, which also stars FKA Twigs and Danny Huston.

In a recent interview with Empire Magazine, Sanders reveals that 2024’s The Crow isn’t a traditional Hollywood remake of the 1994 film. “There’s nothing to do with Hollywood in this movie at all. It’s a very scrappy indie movie,” says Sanders. According to the director, making the movie on a smaller scale with a lower budget of $50 million allowed them to “remain close to the centre and the darkness and the violence that’s in the graphic novel.” “The only reason we could do that,” he explains, “is because it’s not a studio movie.”

Rupert Sanders’ The Crow Comments Explained

Is It Really An Indie Movie?

When a movie has a bigger budget, there can be more hands in the creative pot, so to speak, just because there’s more on the line. A $200 million movie has to appeal to a wider audience and can take fewer risks than a movie that only costs $50 million. Still, though, a $50 million price tag arguably makes The Crow more than an indie movie, and puts it more in mid-budget territory. For comparison, the estimated budget for the first John Wick, also an action-heavy film, is between $20 million and $30 million.

The original version of The Crow had an estimated budget of $23 million. Using an inflation calculator, $23 million in 1994 is equal to about $49 million in 2024. The two films, then, are both really being made at around the same budget level, meaning the upcoming reboot can presumably take the same bold creative swings that the original did.

In any case, Sanders’ comments are good news for his new adaptation, as a more traditional Hollywood take on the source material would probably end up being a disappointment. Operating at this lower budget level, The Crow was able to secure an R rating instead of being forced to widen the potential audience with a PG-13. While there’s still a great deal of skepticism about 2024’s The Crow, Sanders’ latest comments suggest, for better or worse, audiences will be getting a film with artistic intent that attempts to stay true to the dark graphic novel.

Source: Empire Magazine