Hellboy: The Crooked Man (2024)

[Edward R. Meow]

Hellboy: The Crooked Man Blu-ray

We have learned that, following the recent failure of the 2019 David Harbour-led Hellboy reboot, Millennium Media is looking to give the IP another shot and is actively developing a new live-action Hellboy film, one which has already been written with a director attached.

Brian Taylor has been chosen to direct the new Hellboy film. Taylor is no stranger to developing comic book properties, having co-written the screenplay for 2010’s Jonah Hex. More notably, Brian Taylor co-directed Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, the 2011 sequel to Sony’s original film which saw Nicolas Cage return as the titular Rider, with fellow filmmaker Mark Neveldine. The two long-time friends, credited as Neveldine/Taylor, united in the early 2000s and first burst onto the scene with Crank led by Jason Statham, proving that their high-adrenaline filmmaking style was one of a kind. The duo would go on to direct and write the insane sequel Crank: High Voltage and 2009’s Gamer starring Gerald Butler.

Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and horror/fantasy author Christopher Golden will be receiving story credits on this new Hellboy film. However, it is unknown if either of them contributed to the screenplay or if they are receiving credits for their past work on the character. Golden famously wrote three canon Hellboy novels with Mignola’s approval. Fans should note that Mignola and Golden created another series for Dark Horse comics titled Baltimore, which is part of their shared horror universe called the Outerverse. Golden also reportedly did some uncredited rewrites on the 2019 reboot.

Sources say the current working title for this new film adaptation is Hellboy: The Crooked Man, although it is unknown if that will be the official title and if The Crooked Man story is what the film will be based on. Hellboy: The Crooked Man is a 3-issue miniseries that debuted in April 2011. The miniseries follows Hellboy in 1956, somewhere in the mountains of West Virginia, as he encounters Tom, a man who in his youth sold his soul to a backwoods demon known as the Crooked Man. Together, they travel back into the dark heart of the Appalachian mountains to confront the demon and see if Tom’s soul can be saved. Plot details for this new Hellboy film are currently under wraps so it cannot be said if they will actually adapt this story or how accurate it will be to the source material if they do.

This latest live-action Hellboy reboot is far into development as filming is already planned to begin this April in Bulgaria. Millennium Media has already begun using production studios in the country for their upcoming live-action Red Sonja film from director M.J. Bassett and starring Matilda Lutz in the titular role. They are currently in the casting stages, so fans should expect to hear mor over the next few weeks as they prepare for this potential April production start. 2019’s Hellboy, in an effort to distinguish itself from the two Guillermo del Toro films, left out key characters from the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.), like Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman, and Johann Kraus. The reboot did, however, include Ben Daimio the werejaguar, Lobster Johnson, and Alice Monaghan. It is likely that this new Hellboy film would want to include more recognizable characters and monsters from the character’s lore.

This new Hellboy film is expected to be another reboot, so it is unlikely that either Ron Perlman or David Harbour would reprise the main role. This is especially the case for Harbour, as not only was his Hellboy reboot a critical and financial failure, earning $55 million at the worldwide box office on a production budget of $50 million, but the actor is preparing for a busy summer as he will be filming both Stranger Things Season 5 and Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts at the same time. Thunderbolts will see Harbour reprise his role from Black Widow, the Red Guardian, in a new espionage team of morally gray characters featuring Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), and Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).

Similarly, there is currently no distributor attached to this new Hellboy film. While Lionsgate distributed 2019’s Hellboy for Millennium Media, it is doubtful that most Hollywood studios would want to invest in the franchise again. Given the IP’s history of dismal box office records, it seems more likely that Millennium will look towards selling this new Hellboy reboot to a streaming service, and I would personally label Netflix, Amazon, and Peacock all as the potential major contenders, should this be a title they feel is financially viable following how the property’s demand has lessened after Neil Marshall’s 2019 film

https://discussingfilm.net/2023/02/1...rks-exclusive/

[Cremildo]

Whatever.

[Gacivory]

As maybe the only person who didn’t mind the last Hellboy, I’m a bit disappointed, but also, I don’t care. I’ll check out another reboot.

[CompleteCount]

From the creative talent behind both Jonah Hex and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

[Pours a very large scotch...]

[-JKR-]

I have to say, I really enjoyed Brian Taylor's series Happy!, based on Grant Morrison's comic book. So I'm not opposed to this, especially considering how Guillermo Del Toro's threeauel is out of question now.

Let's give it a shot. I just hope that Millennium Media will provide the right environment for Taylor to do his job, considering how the last effort seemed to suffer from a 'too many cooks' problem and was plagued by creative differences.

Originally Posted by CompleteCount

From the creative talent behind both Jonah Hex and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

[Pours a very large scotch...]

...and Happy!, which was great.

Also, the Jonah Hex movie that ended up on the big screen wasn't the version Nevaldine and Taylor had envisioned.

[starsteam]

I finally got around to watching the reboot last week, after re-viewing the GDT films. I tried to be open about it, but the movie just didn't work for me. It wasn't the cast, just the overall look and feel of the film. They tried so hard to not copy the previous films that the result felt stale, like it was missing the magic.

I love the GDT films, but I like Hellboy too. I won't turn down the chance for someone to do it good again.

Though this was pretty unexpected news. After seeing the reboot I told myself it'll probably be ten or twenty years before anyone touched the IP again.

[ben6543]

Just let Del Toro and Perlman do the third movie. 2019 was Terrible the only movie I have ever regretted seeing in theaters.

[Mr Walker]

Hellboy 2019 wasn't massively bad, it just suffered from the same problem that Spider-man 3 did, which is trying to pack too much and too many characters into it. Needed room to breathe, and let the story grow. Still not a patch on the GDT films though, which were *chef's kiss*

I'll give this a chance.

[Benoit Blanc]

Well **** me...

[ckmoak]

As much as I love the comics (and that is a LOT), I've come to the conclusion that Mignola is the biggest obstacle to our ever getting a good Hellboy movie. Every time he speaks about the films or his vision for Hellboy movies, he makes comments to the effect of "differentiating it from the comics." I liked GTD's aesthetic for the series but it really wasn't much of an adaptation of the material, and the less said of the reboot the better.

I enjoyed Spirit of Vengeance and the Crank movies, but I sure don't think of them as artful, and pretty much nothing in this news seems heartening.

Now, if someone would get Jennifer Kent to write and direct an adaptation...

[MattJ1991]

I'd be up for Harbour to come back.

[Zivouhr]

Hellboy 2: 9/10 Ron Pearlman was awesome as Hellboy, and Luke Goss was a seriously awesome villain. His best role next to Nomak in Blade 2.
Hellboy 1: 8/10 It has some really cool ideas and is much better on the 3rd viewing. Pacing was sometimes a concern, but the sand robot villain was cool.
Hellboy Reboot: 8/10. I was actually entertained by it and Harbour did a good job making it fun. Good action, lots of monsters and almost delivers the "Hell on earth" theme that Hellboy 3 was hinting at.

For Hellboy 3, Del Toro was asking for too much of a budget, and sadly no Studio wanted to put up that much money. Why didn't del Toro go for crowd funding and then studio support? I think he wanted $250 million. Way too much.

Originally Posted by Gacivory

As maybe the only person who didn’t mind the last Hellboy, I’m a bit disappointed, but also, I don’t care. I’ll check out another reboot.

You're not alone, I thought the Hellboy reboot was entertaining in a good way. I understand fans wanted a continuation, but this was a fun substitute IMO.

Originally Posted by MattJ1991

I'd be up for Harbour to come back.

He was good as Hellboy, agreed. He had attitude and personality, although it's tough to top Ron Pearlman's original take on Hellboy.

[Janjira54]

I've got this strange feeling that this'll be a straight to VOD/DVD affair....

[ben6543]

Harbour was a terrible hellboy

Harbour made Hellboy into such a whiny *****. Every other scene he was yelling whining and arguing with people.

[Mr Walker]

Originally Posted by ckmoak

As much as I love the comics (and that is a LOT), I've come to the conclusion that Mignola is the biggest obstacle to our ever getting a good Hellboy movie. Every time he speaks about the films or his vision for Hellboy movies, he makes comments to the effect of "differentiating it from the comics." I liked GTD's aesthetic for the series but it really wasn't much of an adaptation of the material, and the less said of the reboot the better.

Whilst there were some notable changes, if you watch the interviews with GDT, he specifies why he made some of the changes, and how he felt they were needed to have the movie work, ie changing Abe Sapien from being less "action hero" (which he def is in the comics) to being more cerebral, so as to be able to play off Hellboy (who is pretty much purely machismo and action hero).

[Mikezilla3k]

Beginning filming THIS APRIL?

This got "desperate to keep the rights" all over it.

[dr. wai]

Two things:

1. Why not go back to Del Toro and have him make the third Hellboy we should have gotten instead of the R-rated Hellboy (which wasn't that bad and I loved much of the gore)? I know that he said it would cost over $100 million dollars but it might actually be worth it. I think the third film would play a lot better than the 2019 one.

2. This Hellboy could either be really good or really bad. Taylor has made some really good films and shows. He also made Gamer.

[unberechenbar]

I hope this doesn't go to a streamer. I didn't think the 2019 one was that bad.

[kylor]

Third time's the charm?

[Jay H.]

Originally Posted by dr. wai

He also made Gamer.

Yep; I'm out.