Original "The Crow" director celebrates reboot's box office failure

Director of the cult classic "The Crow" from 1994, Alex Proyas, doesn't hide his satisfaction with the fact that the latest version of the film turned out to be a financial failure. According to Variety, the reboot of "The Crow," despite a production budget of $50 million, earned only $4.6 million on its opening weekend. Proyas publicly criticized the idea of remaking the original, especially after the tragedy that occurred to Brandon Lee on the first film's set, and openly expressed his feelings on Facebook. "I thought the remake was a cynical cash-grab. Not much cash to grab it seems," he wrote with undisguised satisfaction.

Since the premiere of the new "The Crow" trailer in March, Proyas has not hidden his concerns, arguing that Brandon Lee should own the legacy of "The Crow." The reboot, in which Bill Skarsgård, known from "It" and "John Wick: Chapter 4," plays the lead role, was met with a chilly reception from both critics and audiences.

Alex Proyas emphasized that he does not derive joy from the negative reviews of other filmmakers' work, yet the fans' reactions speak for themselves. "‘The Crow’ is not just a movie. Brandon Lee died making it, and it was finished as a testament to his lost brilliance and tragic loss. It is his legacy. That’s how it should remain," Proyas noted.

Meanwhile, co-writer of the reboot William Schneider defended the new version in a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, explaining that the team behind the reboot consciously decided not to follow exactly the same path that Proyas did. They intended to find a new approach to the story while celebrating the original and allowing both films to exist independently and gain their own fans.