There's a remake of The Crow currently in pre-production and nobody seems to be very happy about it. Fans of the 1994 Alex Proyas-directed film don't want to see the material tainted and, even worse, it was reported that Bradley Cooper is in talks to star. You know who else isn't happy about it? The Weinstein Company, and now they are doing something about it.
Deadline is reporting that a lawsuit is about to be filed against Ryan Kavanaugh's Relativity Media by Bob and Harvey Weinstein. According to the story, a written contract ("signed by everybody") says that the Weinstein brothers hold The Crow worldwide distribution rights. The 1994 film and its subsequent sequels were distributed by either Miramax Films or Dimension, both of which are Weinstein owned companies. Said Bert Fields, the Weinstein's representative, when discussing the aforementioned contract,
"Mr. Kavanaugh was not going to honor that contract. Apparently, he's going to sell these rights to others. He made a bunch of threats. Some people may submit to that kind of arrogant conduct, but we're not going to do it. If anybody tries to buy these distribution rights in The Crow, they are buying nothing but a lawsuit and they will get sued."
Obviously this is only one side of the story and Kavanaugh may have things differently, but this is terrific news for those unhappy with The Crow remake. Perhaps the two companies will get stuck in a decade long legal battle and the movie will never get made. We can only hope so.
UPDATE! Relativity Media has now issued a statement responding to Weinstein's accusations. Here it is:
“This is yet another typical litigation stunt from the Weinsteins who have a long history of threatening law suits with the sole purpose of intimidation. If served, Relativity will seek immediate dismissal. While we expect these types of antics from the Weinsteins, we are shocked that a lawyer of Mr. Fields’ caliber would make such false, reckless and intentionally harmful statements to the press about Relativity and Mr. Kavanaugh. We intend to seek appropriate remedies for this misconduct.Clearly this is a feeble attempt to create a press stir and a malicious effort to interfere with Relativity’s development of the project.”
