Alex Proyas' 1994 movie The Crow, starring Brandon Lee as the titular character, is the first movie adaptation of Caliber Comics' 1989 comic book series, which was later acquired by Image Comics. The Crow is generally accepted by fans as a darker comic book series since it follows the story of a young poet and guitarist who is brutally murdered alongside his fiancée and then brought back to life as an undead avenger by a crow. The 1994 film has good ratings and is praised by fans for exploring gothic themes. The film isn't without controversy though, as Lee infamously died on set when he was hit by a fragment of a dummy bullet from a prop gun.Rumors of a reboot of The Crow have been circulating on the internet. The reboot was originally confirmed to have Corin Hardy, who directed The Nun, as director and Game of Thrones and Aquaman actor Jason Momoa as the titular character. However, Momoa and Hardy left the project in 2018, as Sony was preparing to withdraw as the film's distributor. The Crow Reborn was originally set to be released in cinemas on Oct. 11, 2019, and has gone through multiple directors since it was first announced.Fans started talking about the reboot again after test footage of Momoa as Eric Draven/The Crow was posted on Twitter by Ryan Unicomb, who was a production assistant for Thor: Ragnarok. Momoa appears to have no problem getting into character in these videos, and he is completely unrecognizable under the black and white Crow makeup. Momoa's past roles as Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones and Duncan Idaho in Denis Villeneuve's Dune also show that the actor is equipped to handle more serious characters and act in darker scenes.
The Crow movie from 1994 is also a product of its time and can come across as dated to the modern viewer. Some find that the movie's special effects and child acting have aged poorly. A reboot of The Crow would give younger audiences and newer fans of the comic books series something more modern to look forward to. Younger audiences would also recognize Momoa as a popular actor from his roles in Game of Thrones, Aquaman and Dune.
However, the replies under Unicomb's test footage tweet show that fans of The Crow are very much against the idea of a reboot. People in the replies of Unicomb's tweets express their distaste towards movie reboots in general but also claim that making a reboot would be disrespectful to Lee and that casting a popular Hollywood actor in the main role would cheapen the franchise.
The production issues and the negative reactions from fans of The Crow franchise show that it is probably best if the reboot doesn't happen. The Crow Reborn has been passed around so many different directors since it was announced in 2016 and has had so many problems with distributors that it would be difficult to successfully get the movie off the ground. As fans on Twitter have already pointed out, they still enjoy the original 1994 film and the other three movies -- The Crow: City of Angels, The Crow: Salvation and The Crow: Wicked Prayer -- that came out after it. Although Momoa would undoubtedly be good in the role of The Crow and he is clearly eager to play the character, a reboot is not needed and not necessarily wanted by audiences. In short -- if it ain't broke, don't fix it.