Summary
- 2024’s The Crow is facing harsh criticism, unlike its 1994 predecessor, earning a dismal 20% on Rotten Tomatoes.
- Original director Alex Proyas and original star Rochelle Davis reacted with surprise to the brutal reviews, with the former providing a simple five-word response on Facebook.
- After his efforts to prevent the reimagining, Proyas only responds to the negative reception with minimal emotion.
2024’s The Crow is facing devastating reactions from critics. Like the 1994 movie, the new movie serves as an adaptation of the 1989 comic series by James O’Barr. It stars Bill Skarsgård alongside FKA Twigs and had a budget of approximately $50 million. Unfortunately, it has also seen an extremely negative reception, having earned a 20% score on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. While The Crow is available in theaters everywhere, it has not earned much love from its viewers.
After seeing the extremely negative responses, the director and star of the 1994 movie, Alex Proyas, reacted to the harsh reviews. He took to Facebook to showcase a five-word response that reflected his surprise. Check it out below:
Proyas’ only response is to call the reviews “brutal“, offering nothing else that might explain his shock. Original star Rochelle Davis also commented on Proyas’ post, calling the reviews “well deserved” and lamenting “how dare they” attempt to make a new verison of the film.
Why Is The Crow Facing Such Negative Reviews?
How The 2024 Version Compares To 1994
Compared to the last adaptation of the comic series, the 2024 version is certainly struggling. Financially, it is facing challenges with a box office opening weekend expected to end with a $4.5-5 million take, falling short of its original $6-9 million projections. Critically, there are even more issues, as the original depiction earned an excellent 86% Tomatometer score, which is 66% higher than the 2024 version. The audience score was also 24% higher than the most recent release saw. Check out the chart below, which showcases the Rotten Tomatoes scores for both adaptations:
|
Title |
Tomatometer Score |
Popcornmeter (Audience) Score |
|---|---|---|
|
The Crow (1994) |
86% |
90% |
|
The Crow (2024) |
20% |
66% |
While many of the critics praise The Crow‘s ending, it is the only element that has received near-universal acclaim. Many reviewers have been comparing it to the original depiction and found it falling short of matching the 1994 version’s visuals, structure, and narrative, as the plot falls short of expectations. While it offers more agency to Eric’s love interest, Shelly, that is not enough to account for its stumbling pacing and underdeveloped romance. Some reviewers consider it worth watching, but it is far less respected than the 1994 movie was.
Related
Every Actor Who Has Played The Crow
The Crow franchise has had different actors playing the title character in movies and TV shows, and not all of them have played Eric Draven.
Comparing the two movies is somewhat unfair, as Skarsgård has repeatedly emphasized that they were never attempting to reboot or remake the 1994 movie. 2024’s The Crow was meant to stand on its own, irrespective of the original’s success. Unfortunately, it is difficult to overlook the previous movie, which earned $94 million on a budget of $23 million, and went on to become a cult classic, making it impossible to overlook the legacy that it left. While Skarsgård wanted it to stand alone, comparisons to the original movie have left it stumbling, and even Proyas isn’t surprised by the response.
Source: Alex Proyas / Facebook
