First trailer for horror movie reboot The Crow features an unrecognizable Bill Skarsgård on a bloody mission of revenge

The Crow
(Image credit: Lionsgate)

The first trailer for Lionsgate's long-awaited remake of The Crow is here – and it's an epic modern re-telling of the 1993 classic.

In the brief clip, which can be viewed above, we see Eric Draven (Bill Skarsgard) and Shelly Webster (FKA Twigs) – reimagined here as criminals – meet in prison and wreak havoc together before being captured and killed by a group of thugs. A crow brings Eric back from the dead to "put the wrong things right" (which is a quote from the original) and he embarks on a mission to avenge Shelly's death. There's a lot of blood, action, and some beautifully romantic scenes between Eric and Shelly – and we'll definitely be watching.

Per Lionsgate, the officlal synopsis reads: "Soulmates Eric Draven and Shelly Webster are brutally murdered. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric sets out to seek revenge, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right."

The fifth installment, directed by Rupert Sanders, in the franchise serves as a 'reimagining' of the gut-wrenching graphic novel by James O'Barr, and makes several changes from the original film – including (rightfully) bumping up the character of Shelly Webster to co-lead, and changing Eric Draven's look...just a bit...(Though OG director Alex Proyas isn't exactly stoked on it).

The flagship film hit theaters in 1993 and became an instant cult classic thanks to Brandon Lee's performance as rockstar-turned-undead-vigilante Eric Draven. The original cast included Rochelle Davis as Sarah, a young girl who Eric saves from the streets, Ernie Hudson as Officer Albreicht , with Michael Massee, Michael Wincott, David Patrick Kelly, Laurence Mason, and Angel David as the big bads. 

Three sequels and a Canadian television series followed before the franchise took a pause and began several fruitless attempts to get a reboot into production. Several actors were considered for the role of Eric Draven including Bradley Cooper, Jason Momoa, and Luke Evans.  Jason Momoa even did a makeup test for Eric Draven before the remake fell through yet again.

The Crow hits theaters on June 7, 2024. For more, read why one of our writers thinks new fans and old should give The Crow reboot a chance, or, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2024 and beyond.

Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for 12DOVE currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.