A couple months ago, Guillermo del Toro made it crystal clear: “Hellboy 3” was never going to happen. The director had entertained the notion of a third installment to his franchise on and off over the past few years, but it was Ron Perlman in particular who kept the fire alive, trying to rally enough fans around the cause to get the wheels in motion. Nothing ever came of it, but in an era where intellectual property rarely sits unused, “Hellboy” is now being rebooted.
THR reveals that Neil Marshall will helm the new picture, tentatively titled “Hellboy: Rise Of The Blood Queen,” with “Stranger Things” star David Harbour lined up to play the lead role. Bringing the new story together are screenwriters Andrew Cosby, Christopher Golden and, most importantly, “Hellboy” creator Mike Mignola, who first dropped the news on the project, saying it will be “R-rated.” However, that script will be rewritten by Marshall and Aron Coleite (“Heroes,” “Star Trek: Discovery“) so we’ll wait and see if that adult approach remains, though knowing the director’s work, it probably will.
Perhaps the most interesting nugget in all of this is the word that last year, Dark Horse Entertainment along with producers Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin, kicked around the idea of making a third movie with Del Toro. However, the budget the director wanted was deemed to high, with a reboot seen as a cheaper way to go, and here we are. However, the price tag required to win back the diehard fans of the original two films may be much larger than anyone was expecting.