Back last spring Relativity Media was pretty gung-ho about putting together a remake of the cult classic, Brandon Lee starring, goth-actioner The Crow. They had a director picked out and everything. A snag was hit, however, when The Weinstein Company claimed that they had rights to the worldwide distribution of any Crow remake or reboot and slapped them with a lawsuit. Work on the film got halted and everything was left up in the air.

Back in August, Justin Lin vacated the director’s chair for the latest in Hollywood’s seemingly endless string of remakes – jumping off Highlander to spend more time making Vin Diesel and Paul Walker jump off moving trains on to moving cars (or similar) with his next entry into his wildly successful spin on The Fast and the Furious franchise. Summit Entertainment has now announced that Juan Carlos Fresnadillo will take on directorial duties for their Highlander reboot/magination/whatever, so let’s all pause to yell “there can only be one!” and move on with the news. Fresnadillo will direct from Melissa Rosenberg’s script, with the film poised to start filming in the spring of 2012. Summit’s official press release gives a quick plotline for the new film – “In HIGHLANDER, after centuries of dueling to survive against others like him, Connor MacLeod, an immortal Scottish swordsman must confront the last of his kind, a murderously brutal barbarian, who lusts for the Prize” – so, yes, rest easy, this is definitely a Highlander film.

Alex Tse cut his teeth and made a name for himself scripting Watchmen, taking the labyrinthine plot structure and bending it to something that made sense for the screen (and for the time restraints of the typical modern movie). It’s that skill paired with his experience working with darker material that makes him a strong choice for his next job. According to a press release, Tse will be writing The Crow reboot that sees Bradley Cooper stepping out of his wheelhouse to wear a little guy-liner and get broody. This project gets added to the pile which Tse is working through currently (or at least, reportedly working through). Since Watchmen, he’s been connected to scripts for The Phantom Tollboth and The Illustrated Man at Warners, Ninja Scroll for Appaian Way, and a handful of others. With a star ready to roll, The Crow seems like it will take off before those others depending on his time table for finishing the script. So this is happening. I still can’t get over the mental image of Bradley Cooper dressed and made-up to look like WCW-era Sting.

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s the ever-changing late night addiction that you just can’t seem to quit, no matter how hard you try. Tonight it features pieces that will make you think, art that will blow your mind, and a minimum amount of talking about Transformers 3 and Doctor Who. That stuff will be back tomorrow, don’t you worry. In the very near future, Stargate Universe will go off the air. And for the first time in 15-years, there are no more planned Stargate projects in the works. It will create a big whole for the fans who have made the sci-fi property one of the most popular since Star Trek. With that in mind, io9 has dispatched a list of 10 lessons about life after cancellation that Stargate can learn from the likes of Trek and Firefly.

If you tilt your head, squint your eyes, and stand on one foot, Bradley Cooper still doesn’t look like he’d make a good goth. He looks like the guy that beat up the goths in high school before throwing the winning touchdown and heading home to bed down the prom queen. So what’s his name doing anywhere near a remake of The Crow? It’s unclear, but it’s there. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cooper is in negotiations to star in the film now being directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. What does that mean? That the deal isn’t finalized, but that a deal very much exists. There is an odds on chance that Cooper will be The Crow. There are a lot of obvious negatives here, but there is at least one positive. This gives Cooper a chance to prove everyone wrong. The gut reaction is that he’s completely bad casting, that he’s a ray of sunshine where a blot of darkness needs to be, but wherever there’s doubt, there’s opportunity. If he can seize that opportunity and deliver a killer performance, then he can cement a great film and show that he’s got more range than people give him credit for. Whether he will end up getting the job or being up to it has yet to be seen. Fortunately, if it happens, it might mean despair for fans of The Crow, and they all love that sort of thing. It’ll be another excuse for us to jam some Morrisey [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who I’ve always referred to as “that guy who made 28 Weeks Later” is set to get a new nickname. Soon, I just may be referring to him as “that guy who remade The Crow”. Relativity has been trying to get a remake of The Crow going for a few years now, probably because the sequels and the TV series were all such huge smash hits.  At one point Blade director Stephen Norrington was attached to make it happen; but now this is happening instead. The most recent version of the script was notable as having been written by Nick Cave, but there will reportedly be a new writer coming on to work with Fresnadillo on rewrites, so it’s impossible to say how much of Cave’s version of the script will make it on screen, if any.

Last week, we reported the strange rumor that Mark Wahlberg had been offered the lead role in the reboot/remake/re-prequel of The Crow. It was an odd choice considering the legacy of the film, but during an interview with Mania (via Aint It Cool), director Stephen Norrington claimed that he supported the offer, “if they take a gritty blue-collar approach.” Unfortunately, he means “they” because just moments before in the conversation, he revealed that he wouldn’t be involved. An unnamed star was attached to the project who dictated a re-write on the Norrington/Nick Cave script, and since Norrington signed on as a writer/director (with all the power that comes with), he exited the project (seemingly without much bombast). So the question now becomes: who will direct this thing after a year and a half of Norrington development?

It’s a cult classic in the exact meaning of the phrase, so it’ll probably upset more than a few diehards to know that Mark Wahlberg has been offered the lead role in the new film baring the Crow pedigree. Even though I’m not obsessed with the original, the idea of Goth Wahlberg doesn’t sound all that appealing. Isn’t pro wrestler Sting still around somewhere? He owes the franchise his livelihood. Nick Cave is busy with script duty (although his mustache could probably play the role all on its own), and Stephen Norrington is set to direct so it’s a toss up between the popcorn brilliance of Blade and the giant mess of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Either way, Wahlberg just isn’t right for this role. The Crow isn’t even from Boston. [Bloody D]

“Paradise Lost,” the most well-claimed-to-have-been-read-but-wasn’t-actually-read epic poem of all time (amongst high schoolers), has had more than a few shots at a feature film adaptation. For some reason – perhaps because it’s a gigantic naked tome of human moral psychology with a whisper-thin plot that it dangles by – it hasn’t made it to your local cinerama-plex-a-dome. Now, it might. Dark City and The Crow director Alex Proyas has been hired to helm an adaptation that focuses on the war between Team Lucifer and Team God and promises some graphic Angel on Angel violence. The phrase “action film” have been tossed around, but the brand of action that Proyas delivers is usually fulfilling both on a visceral and mental level. Oddly enough, he may be the perfect person to take a challenging project like this. Now, who to cast as Satan? Is Dave Grohl available? CGI Young Al Pacino? [The New Cinematical]

Abashed the devil stood / And felt how awful goodness is. It’s Devil’s Night in Detroit and the urban sprawl is in flames. Year after year the night before Halloween is known for the destruction brought upon by the gangster Top Dollar and his hired hands. Nothing goes down in the Motor City without Top Dollar’s say so and when the tenants of a particular apartment building refuse an edict to vacate, he sends a crew down to deliver a message.

Six years ago, Marcus Dunstan was working at Blockbuster Home Video. Within the past four years, he and writing partner Patrick Melton have become major go-to’s in the horror world. On Friday, his directorial debut opened on 1,325 screens. Today, he shares his Top 5 Films with The Rejects. And now, in his own words…

Variety is reporting that Norrington has signed on to write and direct a remake of The Crow, a film best known for the death of star Brandon Lee.