A new deal is nearly in place which is set to deliver another live-action ‘Hellboy‘ movie titled ‘Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen’ only this one is going to be a reboot of the franchise. I’m on the fence on being both excited and dismayed by this news. I am dismayed because we will not see Guillermo del Toro, Ron Perlman, and Doug Jones return to give a proper endcap to their trilogy but and because I’m generally against reboots. However, I’m extremely excited about the raw talent that they have attached to the film and for the fact that an ongoing live-action ‘Hellboy’ franchise that doesn’t have nine years between films sounds fantastic to me.
We’ve learned that Millennium is negotiating with producers Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin on the new film and have assembled a fantastic team already so it sounds like these might be the final stages of setting up a deal. First off, Neil Marshall who is one of my favorite horror directors from his work on ‘The Descent’ and other films is lined up to direct. If you’re not familiar with what he’s done there, he has also done quite a couple ‘Game of Thrones’ episodes which have all gone over quite well.
This isn’t an overnight project by any means as there is already a script in place which was penned by Andrew Cosby, Christopher Golden, and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. As to why del Toro isn’t involved in the reboot, THR is reporting that the director wanted a bigger budget than what was being offered and an agreement couldn’t be made. So instead of trying to conclude the trilogy started by del Toro, the producers decided to go for a reboot instead. However, with how slow Hollywood tends to be and how far into pre-production this is as well as Mignola himself previously stating that “I think we’ve both evolved in separate directions since the second Hellboy. I look forward to seeing what he will do next, but I do not see us working together again. He has his idea for the next Hellboy but, in all sincerity, I do not see him [realizing] the film. Too much water has flowed under the bridges from Hellboy 2” it would seem that this could have been in the works prior to del Toro’s pitch earlier this year.
As to who will be playing Hellboy? The production has David Harbour, the Sheriff from ‘Stranger Things’ lined up to play him.
With Mignola involved one can hope that we’ll see Hellboy already part of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense and that there will be some sort of a Lovecraftian feel to the film.
Are you looking forward to ‘Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen’? Do you think a reboot will work for the series or should they have pushed for an ending to the original trilogy first? Share your thoughts below!
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!
