Every now and then talk comes up about a third ‘Hellboy’ movie. Fans of both the comics and movies (I fall into both categories) would love to see another film done and have never been too sure why there isn’t one in production. Well apparently the few times creator Mike Mignola has been quoted about the matter, his responses has made some people believe that he just didn’t want to do one.
It turns out that isn’t the case at all. Mignola wants to do a third ‘Hellboy’ film. Ron Perlman wants to do a third ‘Hellboy’ film. Guillermo del Toro wants to do a third ‘Hellboy’ film. The fans want there to be a third ‘Hellboy’ film. It looks like the only people who don’t want to see a third ‘Hellboy’ film are the folks over at Universal. Since they are the ones behind the money (and most likely the current owners of the the film rights) that means we’re just not going to see a third film and that’s a shame for everyone.
Here’s exactly what Mike Mignola had to say on his official Facebook Page.
There are a couple articles out floating around out there right now that sort of make it sound like I don’t want a third movie made or even implying that somehow I might in some way stopping a third one from being made–That’s just stupid. I have no idea why these things are popping up now. I’m asked all the time if a third film is in the works and I always say there isn’t–Because there isn’t. Simple as that. Of course I would be thrilled to see a third one made. I know Ron would like to do it and I think if ANYONE could talk Universal into it it would be del Toro. After #2 someone at the studio assured me that they would NEVER make a third and that was the last contact I had with anyone at Universal. That was a long time ago and things change and I do hope things will change, but who knows. Certainly it all has nothing to do with me. The fate of a third film is entirely somewhere between del Toro and Universal.
So basically all we need to do is hope that Universal wakes up and smells the aroma of a giant red fist. I suppose scripting wise, some of the execs may have an issue on where the series should go from there. ‘Hellboy’ is written as a bunch of mini-series (each of which could be a movie in its on right) but some of them can get pretty strange and might not fit right on the big screen. There is so much source material, though, that it would be easy to continue the big screen adaptations if they truly wanted to. It’s not as if the first two films were 100% along the lines of the comics.
With an $85 million budget and earning over $150 million from the box office alone, it should have been a no brainer to see the big red guy onscreen again. Yet Universal doesn’t seem to want to try to back another film about him saving the human race once more. Hopefully with the continued success of Marvel and DC’s latest films, Universal will reanalyze wanting to bring a successful comic property they have the rights to back for a third round.