The story so far has been a decade of revolving-door personnel, rights problems and even a studio shut-down. But it seems that, finally, the remake of The Crow is about to spread its wings. Sony, the film's new home, have allocated it a release date of 11 October, 2019. The Hallow's Corin Hardy remains attached as director – as he has been for three and a half years – with Jason Momoa headlining as goth-rock-zombie-avenger Eric Draven.

Hardy had been ready to go at Pinewood as long ago as 2015, with a cast and an art team in place, before studio Relativity crashed and the whole project was thrown into chaos. Since then he's been busy with the not-inconsiderable consolation of Conjuring spin-off The Nun.

The official line throughout the new Crow's protracted development has been that it won't be a straight re-visit of Alex Proyas' tragic original, but will hew much closer to James O'Barr's original comics. It's perhaps a more controversial reboot than many, due to the reverence in which Proyas' film and its star, the late Brandon Lee, are held by fans. But it's a passion project for Hardy, who comes to it from a position of great love and respect for the material and its dark heritage.

A start date hasn't been announced yet, but if The Crow is due in cinemas in 18 months, you'd have to assume it's all systems go as of right now. Expect a flurry of updates over the coming weeks. Although we have, we realise, said that before...