Summary

• Rob Zombie almost directed a futuristic and dark take on The Crow in 1997.
• The project, titled The Crow: 2037, was canceled due to conflicting visions from producers.
• Zombie moved on to make his debut with "House of 1000 Corpses" and later controversial horror films.

Before the 2024 reboot/remake of The Crow, the franchise was almost rebooted in the late 1990s by a controversial horror director, and it would have been a weird, futuristic take on Eric Draven’s story. The Crow is a supernatural superhero comic book series by James O’Barr, published in 1989. The story of The Crow became widely known when it was adapted into a movie of the same name in 1994, directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee as Eric Draven. The Crow was a critical and commercial hit, and it has now become a cult classic.

Given its success, it’s not that surprising that there were some failed efforts to expand the world of The Crow. Proyas’ movie got three sequels that completely failed to even come close to the success and quality of the first movie, and it’s now getting a remake/reboot from Rupert Sanders and starring Bill Skarsgård as Eric Draven. However, many years before Sanders took control of the remake, a very strange The Crow reboot almost happened with a then first-time director who is now a controversial horror filmmaker: Rob Zombie.

Rob Zombie Almost Directed The Crow: 2037

The Crow: 2037 Would Have Been A Futuristic Take With Many Twists

In 1997, Rob Zombie was hired to make his directorial debut with The Crow: 2037, and he even came up with the story for it.

The first sequel to The Crow, titled The Crow: City of Angels, arrived in 1996, followed by The Crow: Salvation in 2000 and The Crow: Wicked Prayer in 2005, but before some of them could have been The Crow: 2037. In 1997, Rob Zombie was hired to make his directorial debut with The Crow: 2037, and he even came up with the story for it (via Fangoria). At the time, Rob Zombie was known for his music career with the band White Zombie and his solo career as well, and he was looking to make the transition to filmmaking.

Zombie’s The Crow: 2037 would have followed a young boy and his mother who were murdered by a Satanic priest on Halloween night.

As the title suggests, The Crow: 2037 would have been set in the still-far future, but its story would have been very different from that of Eric Draven. Zombie’s The Crow: 2037 would have followed a young boy and his mother who were murdered by a Satanic priest on Halloween night. Following the rules of the world of The Crow, the young boy would have been resurrected a year later, very much like Eric Draven, but he would have spent the next 27 years becoming a bounty hunter, and this would have put him face to face with his “now all-powerful killer”.

Why Rob Zombie’s The Crow: 2037 Was Canceled

Rob Zombie Ended Up Making A Very Different Movie For His Directorial Debut

Zombie explained the producers were “so schizophrenic with what they wanted” that he dropped out as he couldn’t see it going anywhere.

Although Zombie went as far into pre-production of The Crow: 2037 as to present a script for it (which can be found online), the project was ultimately dropped. Speaking to Cinefantastique in 2001, Zombie explained that he spent over a year working on the script for The Crow: 2037 but the producers were “so schizophrenic with what they wanted” that he dropped out as he couldn’t see it going anywhere. In the end, The Crow: 2037 never happened and The Crow: Salvation was made instead, and Zombie made his directorial debut with House of 1000 Corpses.

Despite not being the critics’ favorite, House of 1000 Corpses was a commercial success and has achieved a cult following, but it also marked the beginning of a controversial career for Zombie. His works, often from his own scripts, have been criticized for their excessive use of gore and violence, bad performances, and weak scripts, and he became even more controversial when he took on the Halloween franchise with two remakes.

It’s hard to say if Rob Zombie’s The Crow: 2037 would have worked better than his Halloween remakes and his weakest movies, but it might not have been a hit with fans of The Crow franchise, who are understandably protective of Alex Proyas’ film.

Sources: Fangoria, Cinefantastique.