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Relativity Win A Point Over The Weinsteins In War For The Crow Rights

Published Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:44:58 -0500

Last updated Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:45:09 -0500

Hannah Shaw-Williams writes for Bleeding Cool:

Fans of 90s cult classics and super-cool goth make-up will probably already have been following the drama surrounding the supposedly forthcoming remake of The Crow, but here's a swift breakdown for anyone who hasn't already heard about it: Relativity Media and The Weinstein Company are bickering entering court negotiations over who owns the distribution rights for the remake.

Relativity Media are handling the production side of things, but the Weinsteins produced the original film way back when they still ran Miramax and they claim to hold exclusive distribution rights according to "a written contract signed by everybody". The last we heard was that A-Team and The Hangover studmuffin* Bradley Cooper was in line for the lead role of Eric Draven, the spooky-faced avenger who returns from the grave to punish the bad guys who murdered him and his main squeeze, and that Juan Carlos Fresnadillo had been signed on to direct.

Here's the latest news from Deadline, and it looks like it may delay the remake even further. Essentially, Relativity have one-upped The Weinstein Company in the courts and are also trying to bag some hefty damages to do with TWC's "egregious mishandling" of Nine, since they've already got their lawyers all suited up.

The Court agreed with Relativity that TWC's lawsuit against Relativity was improper and violated the parties' arbitration agreement. TWC must now defend itself in the ongoing arbitration proceeding filed by Relativity. In that proceeding, Relativity claims damages in excess of $20 million against TWC for its egregious mishandling of the movie Nine and seeks rescission of the parties' agreement with respect to The Crow. Today's ruling demonstrates that TWC's efforts to misuse the court system as a means of intimidation against Relativity failed. Relativity expects to prevail on all of its claims against TWC in arbitration.

Ouch. If it's true that The Weinstein Company tried to use the old "I'll see you in court!" line to scare off Relativity, then that plan appears to have backfired massively. Whether or not you care about all this depends on how eager you are to see The Crow get remade. Personally I'd watch it just to see Bradley Cooper in the make-up and outfit, because right now my brain cannot quite formulate that image convincingly.

* I have never used this word before, and having given it a trial run I don't think I'll be using it again any time soon.

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