A Cancelled Sequel To The Crow Could Have Starred DMX And Eminem

/Film has been dutifully reporting on all the failed "Crow" remakes as news of their formation as dissipation came across our desks. Back in 2008, Stephen Norrington was attached. Then, in 2014, it was Corin Hardy. Andrea Riseborough was supposed to be a part of that one. In 2016, it was said that Jason Momoa was going to star in a new "Crow" remake. Then that project fell apart. Rupert Sander's remake of "The Crow" was released in late August of 2024, and it came and went without much positive fanfare. It bombed at the box office, making only $26 million on a $50 million budget, and it was panned by critics, including by /Film. This was an inauspicious reaction to a film that had been trapped in development hell for literally decades. 

Speaking of development, Rob Zombie famously wrote a script for a sequel called "The Crow 2037," which would have taken the series in a sci-fi direction, but it, too, was never made. Indeed, for every forgettable "Crow" sequel and remake that did get made, there are at least three that never made it out of the concept phase. 

One of those many unmade "Crow" projects was a potential sequel to be called "The Crow: Lazarus," a flick that was wending its way through the Hollywood's alimentary canal sometime in mid-2000. At that point in the franchise's history, Alex Proyas' celebrated 1994 original already had two less-celebrated sequels (1996's "The Crow: City of Angels," and 2000's "The Crow: Salvation"), and audiences had kind of agreed that the series was running out of steam. That didn't stop producer Edward Pressman from pressing on.

Screenwriter James Gibson, in an interview with Bloody Disgusting, revealed detailed about "The Crow: Lazarus," noting specifically that rapper DMX was in talks to play the title role, and Eminem was to play the film's villain. Both would contribute songs to the film as well. "Obviously," Gibson noted, "a gigantic, huge soundtrack."

The premise of "The Crow" is simple. At the beginning of every "Crow" story, a young couple is beaten, assaulted, and murdered by evil criminals. In this universe, crows are supernatural creatures that can pass into the afterlife and snag a few souls while they're there. A crow grabs a recently-murdered young man (it is Eric Draven in the original) and resurrects him back on Earth, now immune to physical harm. As a pseudo-superhero, he proceeds to take violent revenge on the gangsters that killed and assaulted him/his girlfriend. 

Gibson recalled being approached by Ed Pressman sometime in late 1999 about "The Crow: Lazarus." As reported by MTV, DMX was already attached, and Gibson knew he was a gigantic star. Gibson listened to DMX's catalogue (which, he felt, the producers didn't bother to do), and arranged a meeting with the rapper to brainstorm ideas. The producer felt he made good traction because he could quote DMX's lyrics back to him. Over the course of several meetings and brainstorming sessions, DMX and Gibson came up with a detailed outline as to what "The Crow: Lazarus" ought to be. 

DMX was to play a very DMX-like rapper named Lazarus Rider who was about to perform his final concert before retiring to live happily ever after with his pregnant fiancée. His concert is attacked by men in Smurf masks, however, and his fiancée is killed in the fracas. Then Lazarus Rider is killed in the ensuing chase. It seems that he was killed by a character named Stone, a former childhood friend. The twist in Gibson's script would be that both Stone and Lazarus would be resurrected by crows, and they each had an opportunity to get supernatural revenge on the other. 

Once Gibson completed a draft, they started wondering who could play Stone. It was then that the producers began talking to Eminem's people. "The Crow: Lazarus" was going to be a knock-down, drag-out fight flick starring the two biggest rappers of the day as rivals. It sounds amazing. 

This was before Eminem gained a lot of cinematic attention for starring in the semi-autobiographical film "8 Mile" in 2002. "The Crow: Lazarus" would have been his debut, so when Eminem was approached, he had some demands as well. Gibson recalls Eminem's interest, saying: 

"We wrote a draft. DMX loved it. They were trying to figure out who they were going to get to play opposite him. I think they were approached by Eminem's people. And Eminem was just as picky as DMX then. 2000, 2001, he was blowing up huge. He said if DMX was going to be in the movie, he wanted to be in the movie. So we decided, 'Okay, yeah. Let's have him play Stone.' Obviously, in that draft, it hadn't been tailored to him yet. [...] But it was nothing that couldn't have been done with a few tweaks here and there." 

Gibson rewrote the script with Eminem in mind, and Slim Shady negotiated a $4 million payday. As Gibson noted, the film "was going to be DMX as the good guy, the most badass guy in the world with a lot of heart. Eminem playing a mustache-twirling bad guy, the most villainous guy in the world. [...] It can't lose, right?" It seemed like a surefire hit. And, to repeat Gibson's point, the soundtrack would have been enormous. Imagine the guest rappers that would have agreed to participate.

So why didn't it happen? It really boiled down to a lack of faith from Miramax, the franchise's controlling studio. While the first "The Crow" was a massive success, the second bombed, and the third barely opened in theaters at all. Gibson said that "they didn't have creative input, but they had sort of a veto input, and in their minds the franchise wasn't really good for anything more than a couple more straight-to-video releases." And that was that.

It seems that Bob and Harvey Weisntein, the heads of Miramax and its horror sub-brand Dimension, refused to invest in "The Crow: Lazarus" because, one, they didn't think the franchise had any juice left in it, but also because ... well, Gibson hated their second reason. He said: 

"This is what they were told, and just this kills me. They got a call from either Harvey or Bob Weinstein. It might've been Bob, because he was in charge of Dimension. 'Nobody wants to see a movie with two rappers,' was what he said. 'Nobody wants to see a movie with two rappers.' No one's going to pay to see a movie with two rappers? Okay. They're the two biggest f***ing pop stars in the world at that point! [...] I mean, it kills me because I probably would have bought a house with the money that we'd have made, you know?"

Gibson recalled that "The Crow: Lazarus" tried to stay alive by mutating into a generic supernatural revenge story without the "Crow" branding attached. Another screenwriter was brought in to alter the "Crow" mythology into something new, but as Gibson recalled, the new draft sucked. It had Chinese amulets and sorcerers and the like. The intended director of "Lazarus" was to be Joseph Kahn, and he left the project to work on "Torque." Eminem stepped out as well. "Lazarus" unraveled quickly. 

James Gibson did eventually write the DMX-starring film "Never Die Alone" in 2004, so at least their collaboration bore some fruit. DMX passed in 2021, and he was the subject of a touching documentary, "DMX: Don't Try to Understand." 

Eminem moved on to making "8 Mile," which was a huge hit. As for "The Crow" franchise, it stumbled through a straight-to-video sequel called "The Crow: Wicked Prayer" in 2005, before finally mutating into the awful 2024 remake (seen above) that everyone missed. 

Oh, but what could have been.