Deadline reports that "The Hallow" director Corin Hardy has signed on to direct Relativity Studios' upcoming remake of "The Crow." He will replace Javier Gutierrez, who exited the project due to his commitments directing the next "Saw" film. Hardy's other directing credits include the animated short "Butterfly" and music videos for Ed Sheeran, Biffy Clyro, Paolo Nutini, The Prodigy and more.

The remake, based on the James O'Barr comic book series of the same name, has been in development for some time and originally had Javier Gutierrez attached to direct. The film's producer, Ed Pressman, revealed in October that the intention is to begin filming in the spring. Casting rumors have placed everyone from "The Walking Dead" star Norman Reedus to James McAvoy in the lead role (though McAvoy's involvement was later debunked by the actor himself).

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"I think given the proper resources, we can make an absolutely stunning film. 'The Crow' -- and hopefully this doesn't sound arrogant to any degree -- kind of invented a whole new genre, kind of the dark anti-hero, and it was I think probably the first comic-related film that took the source material seriously," James O'Barr told CBR in 2013. "There was nothing satirical or parodic about it, and I think this is the opportunity [because] we're not calling it a remake or reboot -- it's a re-vision. We're going back to the source material, and the analogy I've been using is -- okay, you have Tod Browning's Lugosi "Dracula," and you have Francis Ford Coppola's "Dracula," plus all of the Hammer films -- and they're all based on the same source material but they're all completely different films. Every single one of them is valid, they're just a different vision -- so we've taken to calling this a re-vision of the graphic novel. In my mind there's no fear or trepidation about competing with the first "Crow" film; that's something separate entirely. I think that film is a classic, and the fact that it's still so influential 20 years later, it stands alone. In essence, there's no point in remaking that. The point being that we can show things in a different light and add our artistic flourishes to it, that for various reasons either weren't in the first film, or budgetary constraints wouldn't allow them to do it."