First ‘The Crow’ Trailer Reveals Bill Skarsgard as a Blood-Soaked Revenge Seeker in Ultraviolent Remake

At long last, “The Crow” remake has arrived. After over 15 years of stops and starts, Lionsgate is bringing this update of the 1994 film to theaters this June, and this iteration looks to be leaning hard into the violence of this revenge tale.

Rupert Sanders, the filmmaker behind the visually impressive “Snow White and the Huntsman” and the Scarlett Johansson-led “Ghost in the Shell” adaptation, directs this new version of “The Crow” with “It” star Bill Skarsgard in the lead role of Eric Draven.

The story follows the plot of the original, which itself was based on the James O’Barr comic of the same name. Two soulmates (Skarsgard and FKA Twigs) are brutally murdered, only for the male (Eric) to be resurrected as an undead revenge-seeker.

A new iteration of “The Crow” first entered development in 2008 and has had more stops and starts than just about any other production in Hollywood over the last 15 years. At various points in time Bradley Cooper, James McAvoy, Luke Evans, Jason Momoa and Jack Huston were all in line to play the lead character, with Skarsgard and Sanders finally bringing this thing home.

“I was a huge fan of the original film growing up as a kid and was so honored to take on the role of Eric Draven,” Skarsgard said in a statement. “But really what drew me to it was what Rupert Sanders wanted to do with it. He wanted to completely reimagine the story and the character and tailor it towards a modern audience. It’s a character that I know many revere and have a strong connection to – he is unlike any I’ve ever taken on before.”

Sanders called “The Crow” the “original anti-hero” in a statement of his own, adding that he wanted to update the material for a modern audience.

“Our interpretation of James’ work also reflects this young generation, whose tastes and references have changed so dramatically from the original film,” he said. “Hopefully it speaks to them in their language, with their style and music and hopefully will get them to discover Alex Proyas’ film and James O’Barr’s graphic novel, bringing a new audience to the source material.”

Brandon Lee played the lead character in the 1994 film, which built up a cult audience after it hit theaters. Lee tragically died during production when a prop gun was incorrectly loaded and fired at him.

Written by Zach Baylin and William Schneider, “The Crow” opens exclusively in theaters on June 7. Producers are Edward R. Pressman, Samuel Hadida, Victor Hadida, John Jencks and Molly Hassell.

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