# The Crow (franchise)

The Crow is an American media franchise based on the limited comic book series of the same name created by James O'Barr. Since then, there have been five released films and a television series, as well as a video game.

## Films

| Film | U.S. release date | Director | Screenwriter(s) | Producers |
| The Crow | May 13, 1994 | Alex Proyas | David J. Schow and John Shirley | Edward R. Pressman & Jeff Most |
| The Crow: City of Angels | August 30, 1996 | Tim Pope | David S. Goyer | Edward R. Pressman & Jeff Most |
| The Crow: Salvation | January 23, 2000 | Bharat Nalluri | Chip Johannessen | Edward R. Pressman & Jeff Most |
| The Crow: Wicked Prayer | July 19, 2005 | Lance Mungia | Lance Mungia, Jeff Most and Sean Hood | Edward R. Pressman & Jeff Most |
| The Crow | August 23, 2024 | Rupert Sanders | Zach Baylin and Will Schneider | Edward R. Pressman, Molly Hassell, Victor Hadida, John Jencks & Samuel Hadida |

## Television

| Series | Season | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released | Network |
| Series | Season | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released | Network |
| The Crow: Stairway to Heaven | 1 | 22 | 22 | September 25, 1998 (1998-9-25) | May 22, 1999 (1999-5-22) | Syndication |

## Unmade films
### The Crow: The Bride

In the 90s, James O'Barr wanted to pursue a female-led installment of The Crow called The Crow: The Bride which would've followed a woman killed on her wedding day who would return seeking revenge. O'Barr had been inspired by a news story he'd read in which Chicago gangsters robbing a church ended up at a wedding where a shoot out occurred with one of the guests who was an off-duty cop and 13 people were killed. When O'Barr pitched the concept to Miramax it was rejected as they didn't believe audiences would pay to see an action film with a female lead.

### The Crow: 2037

Initial development on a third Crow film was announced in August 1997, when Rob Zombie was attached to make a directorial debut with The Crow: 2037. White Zombie covered the KC and the Sunshine Band hit "I'm Your Boogie Man" for the soundtrack of The Crow: City of Angels, and after seeing Rob Zombie's work on the video he produced for the song, Edward Pressman offered Zombie the opportunity to helm the third Crow film. Had the film been made, Zombie planned to shift focus in tone from the revenge angle of the previous two entries, to a more horror based approach. The film would've began in 2010, when a young boy and his mother are murdered on Halloween night by a Satanic priest. A year later, the boy is resurrected as the Crow. Twenty-seven years later, and unaware of his past, he has become a bounty hunter on a collision course with his now all-powerful killer. While producers responded favorably to Zombie's proposal for a third "The Crow" film, producers Pressman and Most ultimately decided it wasn't the best fit for a Crow film and was better served as a standalone work. Zombie himself spoke of his frustration with experience after spending 18 months working on the film often dealing with the indecisiveness of the producers who according to him would change their mind as to what they wanted on any given day which ultimately lead to Zombie leaving the project.

### The Crow: Lazarus

In July 2000, rapper DMX had been in discussions with producers about a fourth Crow film titled The Crow: Lazarus about a rapper who chooses to leave the music scene for the love of a woman and is killed during a drive-by shooting. The rapper is then reincarnated as The Crow in order to take revenge on the gang responsible for his death. Production had been slated to begin in November of that year, but the project ultimately never came to be.

## Cast

| Characters | Original Films | Original Films | Original Films | Original Films | Reboot | Television |
| Characters | The Crow | The Crow: City of Angels | The Crow: Salvation | The Crow: Wicked Prayer | The Crow | The Crow: Stairway to Heaven |
| Characters | 1994 | 1996 | 2000 | 2005 | 2024 | 1998 – 1999 |
| Eric Draven | Brandon Lee | Mentioned | | | Bill Skarsgård | Mark Dacascos |
| Sarah Mohr | Rochelle Davis | Mia Kirshner | | | | Katie Stuart |
| Albrecht | Ernie Hudson | | | | | Marc Gomes |
| Top Dollar | Michael Wincott | | | | | John Pyper-Ferguson |
| Shelly Webster | Sofia Shinas | | | | FKA Twigs | Sabine Karsenti |
| Darla Mohr | Anna Levine | | | | | Lynda Boyd |
| Tin-Tin | Laurence Mason | | | | | Darcy Laurie |
| Funboy | Michael Massee | | | | | Ty Olsson |
| Ashe Corven | | Vincent Pérez | | | | |
| Judah Earl | | Richard Brooks | | | | |
| Curve | | Iggy Pop | | | | |
| Alexander Frederick "Alex" Corvis | | | Eric Mabius | | | |
| Erin Randall | | | Kirsten Dunst | | | |
| Lauren Randall | | | Jodi Lyn O'Keefe | | | |
| Nathan Randall | | | William Atherton | | | |
| Police Captain John L. Book | | | Fred Ward | | | |
| James "Jimmy" Cuervo | | | | Edward Furlong | | |
| Luc "Death" Crash | | | | David Boreanaz | | |
| Lola Byrne | | | | Tara Reid | | |
| Lilly "Ignites the Dawn" | | | | Emmanuelle Chriqui | | |
| El Niño | | | | Dennis Hopper | | |
| Vincent Roeg | | | | | Danny Huston | |
| Sophia Webster | | | | | Josette Simon | |
| Marian | | | | | Laura Birn | |
| Kronos | | | | | Sami Bouajila | |
| Zadie | | | | | Isabella Wei | |
| Chance | | | | | Jordan Bolger | |

## Crew

Crew for the Crow film and television series :
| Crew | Film | Film | Film | Film | Film |
| Crew | The Crow | The Crow: City of Angels | The Crow: Salvation | The Crow: Wicked Prayer | The Crow |
| Crew | 1994 | 1996 | 2000 | 2005 | 2024 |
| Composer | Graeme Revell | Graeme Revell | Marco Beltrami | Jamie Christopherson | Volker Bertelmann |
| Director of Photography | Dariusz Wolski | Jean-Yves Escoffier | Carolyn Chen | Kurt Brabbee | Steve Annis |
| Editor(s) | Dov Hoenig M. Scott Smith | Michael N. KnueAnthony Redman | Howard E. Smith | Dean Holland | Jason Ballantine |
| Production company | Dimension FilmsEntertainment Media Investment CorporationPressman FilmJeff Most Productions | Dimension Films | IMFEdward R. Pressman Film CorporationJeff Most ProductionsMiramaxPacifica Film Development | Pressman FilmJeff Most ProductionsFubu Films | Davis FilmsHassell Free ProductionsElectric Shadow Co.Pressman FilmAshland Hill Media Finance |
| Distributor | Miramax Films | Miramax Films | Dimension Films | Dimension Films | LionsgateFilmNation Entertainment |

## Reception
### Box office performance

| Film | Release date | Box office gross | Box office gross | Box office gross | Budget | Reference |
| Film | Release date | US/Canada | Other territories | Worldwide | Budget | Reference |
| The Crow | May 13, 1994 | $50,693,129 | $43,000,000 | $93,693,129 | $23 million | |
| The Crow: City of Angels | August 30, 1996 | $17,917,287 | $6,931,174 | $24,848,461 | $13 million | |
| The Crow: Salvation | January 23, 2000 | — | — | — | $10 million | |
| The Crow: Wicked Prayer | June 3, 2005 | — | — | — | — | |
| The Crow | August 23, 2024 | $9,275,659 | $14,833,377 | $24,109,036 | $50 million | |
| Total | Total | $77,886,075 | $64,764,551 | $142,650,626 | $96 million | |

## Critical response

| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic |
| The Crow (1994) | 84% (63 reviews) | 71 (14 reviews) |
| The Crow: City of Angels | 11% (36 reviews) | — |
| The Crow: Salvation | 18% (11 reviews) | — |
| The Crow: Wicked Prayer | 0% (9 reviews) | — |
| The Crow (2024) | 21% (134 reviews) | 30 (31 reviews) |