Bradley Cooper should stay away from The Crow reboot
Brad Sturdivant
April 16th, 2011
Posted by:Brad Sturdivant
When I first read the news that Juan Carlos Fresnadillo was going to be leading the charge on a reboot of THE CROW, I didn’t give it two thoughts. Miramax/Dimension have been trying to milk the franchise for all its worth ever since the original film pulled a profit at the box office. But each sequel has been a joke of a film, with the last going straight to DVD. So I expected the same from this one, which probably would have been the case…until now. It looks like Bradley Cooper is seriously considering taking the male lead in the reboot.
The only way this film will be legitimized is if an A-list actor, or near A-list actor, takes the lead role. That will lead to a near A-list actress, which will lead to a near A-list male lead in a villain role and the next thing you know, the whole film will be an event. But Bradley Cooper is being set up for failure with this film. I’m sure he’s read the script and I’m sure Fresnadillo has talked a good game, but at the end of the day, THE CROW is not a mainstream franchise and the chances of rebooting something in this genre and having success are very slim.
The biggest question throbbing in my head right now is; why in the world would a rising star like Bradley Cooper take on a role like this? Like him or hate him, you have to admit that Cooper has charm and has done well in the roles he’s been given. He’s already a big star, but he continues to rise with successes like LIMITLESS, which proved he can carry his own film. The Crow reboot is for an actor that’s trying to make it and needs some help, not someone that has already made it. This is a giant leap backwards for Cooper and if the movie fails (which I think it will, regardless of how good it is) it’s going to be blamed on Cooper. Hollywood won’t care that it’s a dying franchise that people have lost interest in, they’re going to associate the failure with Cooper. Remember; Edward Furlong was the main star in the last feature length Crow film.
And the film will fail. The original version of THE CROW appealed to a small niche audience that was either familiar with the comic or familiar with Brandon Lee. It gained popularity on DVD and has become somewhat of a classic, but that doesn’t mean the film is ripe to be remade or rebooted. The film isn’t even 20 years old at this point and even if it were older, the franchise has retreated into B-movie territory with all the lame sequels. It’d be like trying to reboot the AIR BUD franchise; don’t bother, it’s fine on the straight to DVD market.
I love the original THE CROW and I’m a big Bradley Cooper fan, but the two don’t mix. Cooper is a rising star that can do much, much better and THE CROW franchise was over long ago. If Hollywood wants to remake it, then it’s their prerogative, but Cooper doesn’t need to help them.
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