Guillermo del Toro gives his blessing to Hellboy reboot

Director Guillermo del Toro has spoken out on the controversial plans for a ‘Hellboy’ reboot, and has given the project his blessing.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, del Toro states, “I don’t own ‘Hellboy,’ Mike [Mignola] does. So, you know, he is the father of the character and if he wants to reboot it, it’s perfectly fine.

“I got to make two – that’s two more than I thought I would get to make … So you know, as far as I’m concerned god speed and god bless.”

The 52-year old Mexican filmmaker (more recently responsible for ‘Pacific Rim’ and ‘Crimson Peak’) was the first to bring writer-artist Mignola’s comic book creation to the big screen. 2004’s ‘Hellboy’ cast Ron Perlman in the title role, and was followed in 2008 by ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army.’

The series had been devised as a trilogy, with a third and final film intended to show Hellboy – a demon conjured by the Nazis during World War II, but raised in America to fight against evil – fulfil his destiny as the bringer of the Apocalypse.

Naturally this epic vision would have required an equally epic budget, but given the first two ‘Hellboy’ films weren’t all that successful commercially (a combined global box office take of $261 million), del Toro was unable to secure financing for a third.

Still, the filmmaker got fans excited earlier this year after launching a poll on Twitter to gauge fan interest in ‘Hellboy 3,’ and met with Mignola and Perlman to discuss the possibility of making it happen – but once these talks had taken place in February, del Toro categorically stated that the third film was off the cards for good.

Mignola announced plans for a reboot, entitled ‘Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen,’ in May. The ‘Hellboy’ creator has co-written the screenplay for what we’re told will be a harder-edged, R-rated film from director Neil Marshall (‘Dog Soldiers,’ ‘The Descent,’ TV’s ‘Game of Thrones’), with ‘Stranger Things’ actor David Harbour taking over from Perlman in the title role.

However, not everyone involved in the existing ‘Hellboy’ movies has spoken so kindly of the reboot plans, notably actor Jeffrey Tambor, who angrily accused Mignola of ‘disloyalty’ to del Toro and Perlman.

No release date for ‘Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen’ has been announced at present – but Guillermo del Toro’s latest film, ‘The Shape of Water,’ is set to open in the USA on 8 December.

Read More:
Tom Holland reveals Spider-Man trilogy plans
Venom will not be part of the MCU
Joel Schumacher apologises for Batman & Robin