Hellboy began as a comic book series about a salty red demon with a talent for violence, before being adapted by Guillermo Del Toro into two movies. The comic books are known for being fairly dark, while Guillermo Del Toro's adaptation toned it down a bit and put his signature creative spin on it. Fans of the comic, however, should be excited to know that another adaptation is coming, which should stay a little closer to the comic's roots and will feature an entirely new cast and crew.
The movie may not have a significant presence at San Diego Comic-Con 2018, but with the major event upon us--it starts on Thursday, July 19--let's review what we know about the film, as well as what we're hoping to learn about it (be it at SDCC or some later date).
What It's About
Very few plot details have been released about Hellboy, but what we do know is that it will have nothing to do with Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy universe, and instead will be an entirely different interpretation of the series. Hellboy will be facing a sorceress called the Blood Queen from the comics. It's also rated R, so that allows it to be darker and more violent than previous adaptations have been.
Who's Who
Crew
- The film will be directed by Neil Marshall (The Descent).
- The screenplay was written by Andrew Cosby (Eureka).
Cast
- David Harbour (Stranger Things) will be playing Hellboy, the surly but well intentioned half-human, half-demon, summoned to earth from hell by the Nazis. He's following in the footsteps of Ron Perlman, who played the character in the first movie franchise.
- Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil) will play the Blood Queen.
- Ian McShane will play Professor Broom, Hellboy's surrogate father from the comics.
- Daniel Dae Kim (Lost) plays Ben Daimio, a former Marine and commander at the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, where the Hellboy squad works. In the comics, he can also turn into a jaguar in a tight spot. Interestingly, Ed Skrein was initially tapped for this role, but not wanting to contribute to Hollywood whitewashing, he dropped out after learning that the character in the comics has Asian heritage.
What's Been Released So Far
So far, very little has been released. No teasers, no full length trailers, not even a cast photo. There has only been a poster which was put up as a promotional banner. It depicts an artist's rendition of Hellboy and his enemy in the movie, the Blood Queen.
There was also a photo of Harbour as Hellboy released on Twitter. It's a pretty similar interpretation to Del Toro's Hellboy; neither director seems to want to change much from Hellboy's comic book look, which fans are likely to thank them for.
What We Want At Comic-Con
Even though Lionsgate has a couple movies coming out, the studio has no Hall H schedule planned, just a booth. This means no panel and likely no major news or trailers for the film. We don't know for sure, though. This year is the 25th anniversary of the Hellboy comics and creator Mike Mignola has a panel. Perhaps he'll have some information to share.
There are many unanswered questions surrounding Hellboy but mostly, it would be great to get some information on the plot other than the name of the antagonist. The Blood Queen is an important part of a storyline from the Hellboy comics, but who knows how faithful the adaptation will be to the source material. And, of course, it would be great if they dropped a trailer, but that seems unlikely.
Hopefully we'll get some new information at Comic-Con that will keep us satisfied until a trailer drops, or until the film opens on January 11, 2019.