It feels like a fever dream now. Back in 2017, the internet practically imploded when photos leaked showing Jason Momoa in full Eric Draven makeup. The white face paint was there. The jagged black lines over the eyes were sharp. He looked terrifying, soulful, and honestly, a bit like he was born to play the role. Fans of James O’Barr’s original 1989 comic and the cult-classic 1994 film were split down the middle. Some people hated the idea of anyone touching Brandon Lee's legacy. Others saw Momoa’s massive frame and raw energy as the perfect way to bring the supernatural vigilante into the modern era.
Then, it all vanished.
The project, officially titled The Crow Reborn, became one of the most famous "what if" stories in Hollywood history. It wasn't just a rumor; it was a production that was weeks away from cameras rolling in Budapest. Corin Hardy, the director behind The Nun, was at the helm. He and Momoa had spent years developing a vision that was supposedly much closer to the gritty, suicidal desperation of the source material than the gothic romance of the 90s flick. But because of a messy cocktail of financing collapses, rights disputes, and creative differences, the plug was pulled at the eleventh hour.
Why the Jason Momoa Crow movie died just before filming
Hollywood is built on fragile foundations. For The Crow, those foundations were made of sand. The project had been stuck in "development hell" for nearly a decade before Momoa and Hardy even showed up. Different actors had cycled through the role—Luke Evans, Jack Huston, even Bradley Cooper at one point. By the time Momoa signed on, it felt like the curse was finally broken.
Davis Films, the production company, had the rights. Sony was set to distribute. Everything looked solid.
Then, the money got weird.
According to industry reports from Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter, a massive financial dispute erupted between Samuel Hadida of Davis Films and Sony. It wasn't about the script. It wasn't about Momoa’s acting. It was about the checkbook. When the distribution deal fell through, the funding evaporated. Momoa and Hardy both walked away in May 2018, leaving behind a trail of heartbroken concept artists and a very disappointed fanbase.
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Momoa posted a heartfelt apology on Instagram at the time. He basically said that he’d waited eight years to play this "dream role." He told Hardy he loved him and that they’d eventually work together on something else. You could tell it gutted him. It wasn't just a paycheck; he really wanted to inhabit that dark, rain-soaked world.
The leaked footage that proved it could have worked
In 2021, three years after the project died, Ryan Unicomb—a filmmaker who has become a sort of unofficial historian for "lost" superhero films—released a few seconds of test footage. It was brief. It was grainy. But it was enough to restart the entire conversation.
In the clip, Momoa moves with a sort of predatory grace that we didn't see in Aquaman or Game of Thrones. He wasn't just a big guy in paint. He looked haunted. The makeup was a bit more "street" than Brandon Lee’s—less like a mime and more like something scrawled in a moment of madness.
A different kind of Eric Draven
Hardy’s version was never meant to be a remake of the Alex Proyas film. That’s a mistake a lot of people make. They wanted to go back to the O’Barr comic book. If you’ve read those original issues, they are bleak. They are messy. They are filled with a level of grief that is almost uncomfortable to read. Momoa has that physical presence that makes the violence feel real, but he also has those expressive eyes that can convey deep loss.
Critics of the casting often pointed to his size. "The Crow should be waif-ish," they argued. "He should look like a goth rocker, not a powerlifter."
Maybe.
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But the Crow is an avatar of vengeance. Having a 6'4" powerhouse coming through your window to break your bones carries a different kind of cinematic weight. It would have changed the choreography of the fights entirely. Less flipping, more crushing.
Comparing the Momoa version to the Bill Skarsgård reboot
Fast forward to 2024. We finally got a new Crow movie, but it wasn't Momoa. It was Bill Skarsgård.
Directed by Rupert Sanders, the 2024 version took a wildly different path. It leaned into a modern "mumble-core" aesthetic with face tattoos and a lean, shredded physique. The reception was... mixed, to put it politely. The film struggled at the box office and was shredded by critics.
This failure actually made the the crow jason momoa project more legendary. People started looking back at the leaked test shots and wondering if Hardy and Momoa had the "secret sauce" that Sanders missed. There is a specific kind of dark magic required to make The Crow work. You need to balance the cringe of the "edgy" aesthetic with genuine emotional stakes.
- The 1994 Film: Focused on atmosphere and tragedy.
- The Momoa Approach: Aimed for hyper-violent comic book accuracy.
- The 2024 Film: Focused on Gen-Z aesthetics and a prolonged origin story.
Honestly, the 2024 film spent way too much time on the relationship before the death. Most fans of the franchise just want to see the bird fly and the bad guys pay. Momoa’s version supposedly hit the ground running with the supernatural elements.
The rights nightmare and the "Crow Curse"
Is the movie cursed? Some people think so. The tragic death of Brandon Lee on the original set cast a long shadow over the franchise. Every sequel since then—City of Angels, Salvation, Wicked Prayer—was a disaster.
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When Momoa’s version collapsed, it felt like the universe was saying "stop."
The legal battles behind the scenes were just as messy as the movies. Pressman Film, the company that has long controlled the rights, has spent decades trying to figure out how to monetize the IP without alienating the core fans. The problem is that The Crow is a very specific product of its time. The late 80s and early 90s were peak "goth." Trying to translate that into the era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
Lessons learned from the "The Crow Reborn" failure
If you're a filmmaker or a fan of the genre, the saga of Jason Momoa’s involvement offers a few harsh truths about the industry.
- Star power isn't everything. You can have the biggest star in the world (which Momoa was becoming after Justice League), but if the distribution contracts aren't signed in blood, it doesn't matter.
- Visuals are the first hurdle. The reason we are still talking about this movie seven years later is because those three or four leaked photos were good. They told a story. They sold a vibe.
- Legacy is a heavy weight. Any Crow project has to deal with the ghost of Brandon Lee. Momoa seemed to respect that, but the fans are protective. If you're going to reboot a classic, you have to be ready for a war.
It's highly unlikely we'll ever see Momoa in the role now. He's moved on to other massive franchises, and the 2024 movie's poor performance likely put the character on ice for a long time. But those test photos will live forever on Pinterest and Reddit. They serve as a reminder that sometimes the best movies are the ones that never get made—the ones that stay perfect in our imaginations because they never had a chance to fail at the box office.
How to track down the lost Crow media
If you're obsessed with what could have been, there are a few places to dig deeper. Search for the Corin Hardy storyboards; they leaked a while back and show some incredible sequences involving a motorcycle chase through a graveyard. Also, look up the interviews with Dan Beirne, who was involved in the early stages.
The best way to appreciate the vision is to go back to the James O'Barr "Special Edition" graphic novel. When you read it, imagine Momoa's voice behind the dialogue. It clicks. It really does. While the 2024 film is available on streaming, the Momoa version remains a ghost—which is probably fitting for a story about a man who can't stay dead.
To understand the full scope of the project's collapse, you can look into the following:
- The Sony/Davis Films Lawsuit filings: These outline the exact financial breakdown that killed the production.
- Corin Hardy’s Instagram Archives: He occasionally shares behind-the-scenes sketches from his time on the project.
- The "Lost Media" Wiki: There is an extensive entry on the various iterations of the reboot, including the scripts that were leaked.
Moving forward, the franchise needs a total reset. Perhaps a return to a lower-budget, indie-style horror approach would work better than another attempt at a big-budget blockbuster. Until then, we have the 1994 masterpiece and the "what if" photos of a painted-up Jason Momoa to keep us wondering.