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| Credit: Millennium/Lionsgate |
Neil Marshall's 2019 Hellboy reboot may have been a certified flop of the very floppiest variety; one which seemingly halted plans to relaunch the horror-tinged superhero saga as a franchise, knocked Marshall off the Hollywood A-list as a director, and temporarily stalled star David Harbour's ascent from the small to big screen. But if there's anything that Hollywood simply can't abide by, it's letting any cinematic superhero franchise lay dormant for too long, and so today - per Deadline - it was officially announced that Hellboy reboot 2.0 is about to begin production, with photography starting in Bulgaria next month. The film - called Hellboy: The Crooked Man based on the comic arc of the same name - will be directed by Crank and Mom and Dad director Brian Taylor. The natural reaction to this announcement would probably be skepticism: a fresh reboot starting production less than four years after the last one came out in theaters, helmed by a director known for action-comedies, and not the type of Gothic creature-focused fantasy-horror that the Hellboy series is known and loved for. But there is one piece of good, extremely intriguing news: the new film is being written by none other than Hellboy author and creator - and certified comic legend - Mike Mignola.
Mignola of course was actively involved in all three of the previous Hellboy films and put his stamp of approval on all of them; he even was credited as a story writer on what is commonly agreed to be the best of the films, the stellar Hellboy II: The Golden Army. This will, however, be his first time acting as a full-on screenwriter for one of the movies, and this new role could be seen as him stepping in to right the ship and handle the material properly after the ways in which the 2019 reboot bungled it by trying to do way too much and being something of an overstuffed mess. The plot of The Crooked Man involves a younger Hellboy and a rookie Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense agent facing a coven of witches and the titular demon in 1950s Appalachia; a departure from the series in terms of its period setting, and a setup which sounds much more conducive to the atmospheric horror of the Del Toro films than the action for which Brian Taylor is known for. While the script might be hopefully safe in Mignola's hands, the big question will be whether Taylor is the right director to handle the material.
Despite the film starting production next month, the movie notably does not yet have its Hellboy. In fact, no casting announcement has been made yet at all, although production company Millennium Films says that casting is getting close to completion. It is well-known that Ron Perlman would not be willing to return to the franchise without Guillermo Del Toro, as he has publicly stated that his allegiance is to Del Toro and the destined-to-remain-unmade third film they had in mind. It is possible that the studio could decide to pull a Suicide Squad and keep David Harbour in the role despite the film being a reboot otherwise; after all, Harbour was a genuinely great casting choice, and one of the good things about the otherwise deeply flawed 2019 film. Or they could go in a completely different direction with a new actor altogether, making this a true, clean break from the previous film. We should know within the next few weeks.
- Christopher S. Jordan
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