Hellboy Is Getting Another Movie But Is Losing A Major Player
A new Hellboy live-action movie is in the works, though it won't star Ron Perlman or David Harbour.
The last time we saw Hellboy in action on the big screen, Stranger Things star David Harbour was bringing the big, red demon to life. Unfortunately, that 2019 movie was a flop, and it looked like we might not see more of Hellboy’s quirky adventures for a good, long time. Fortunately, we have some good news for fans of the franchise: Discussing Film reports that Millennium Media is working on a new live-action Hellboy movie, but that neither David Harbour nor Ron Perlman will be reprising the role.
Losing Harbour is a big blow, especially considering that his performance was the best part of the 2019 movie. But fans of the character have a lot to look forward to with this upcoming movie. For example, Hellboy creator Mike Mignola is getting a story credit on the film, and while we don’t yet know if this means he worked on the screenplay or not, it looks like the new Hellboy film has the full blessing of the character’s creator.
Another reason to be excited is that Mignola’s longtime collaborator Christopher Golden is attached to the project. Previously, Golden penned three canonical Hellboy novels with Mignola’s permission, and the two have created a shared horror universe known as the Outerverse (one part of that universe, the Dark Horse comic Baltimore, was created by both of them). In addition, Golden provided some rewrites (albeit uncredited ones) to the 2019 Hellboy script, so he has extensive familiarity with both Mignola and Mignola’s demonic creation.
One thing that may or may not inspire much confidence is that this next Hellboy film will be directed by Brian Taylor. While Taylor has plenty of experience adapting comics to film, the results have been largely mixed. For example, he helped write the screenplay for the 2010 Jonah Hex film starring Josh Brolin, and he was co-director of the 2011 Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance film starring Nicholas Cage.
Right now, the upcoming movie has the working title Hellboy: The Crooked Man. This may or may not serve as the final title of the film, but either way, it seems likely the movie will help to adapt the three-issue comic miniseries of the same name. That miniseries was set in 1956 and followed Hellboy encountering a man who once sold his soul to a demon and was looking for a way to defeat this monster hidden within the Appalachian Mountains and (quite literally) save the man’s soul.
While that is all we know about the upcoming Hellboy reboot, there is much more that we don’t know: for example, we don’t know which actors will be in the film, and the success or failure of the movie will likely depend on who gets cast in the title role. And since there is no distributor attached and because the franchise hasn’t provided great box office returns, we don’t yet know whether this film will end up in theaters or on a streaming service such as Amazon, Netflix, Peacock, or HBO Max. One thing that is certain is that Mike Mignola’s Hellboy remains one of the best comic characters ever created, and we’re more than ready for him to show moviegoers a hell of a good time once more.
