Comics
Guillermo del Toro On the “Hard Facts” Of ‘Hellboy 3’
While Ron Perlman continues to make a public push for a third Hellboy adaptation, director Guillermo del Toro is bringing fans back to reality.
There’s been chatter for years, but the reality is, there will probably never be another adaptation of Mike Mignola’s popular comic series. Unless…
“The hard fact is that the movie’s going to need about $120 million and there’s nobody knocking down our doors to give it to us,” del Toro told The Daily Beast at the San Diego Comic-Con. “It’s a little beyond Kickstarter,” he laughed.
“It would be great to complete the trilogy,” he said, “But in a way I don’t see the world—the industry—supporting that idea.”
Some good news came of the conversation, though, as the site reports that Legendary told Del Toro they might throw down for Hellboy 3 if he makes his next film, the mech-kaiju sequel Pacific Rim 2, a hit.
While comic book adaptations are all the rage, Hellboy isn’t something fans are screaming for, although completing the trilogy would be welcomed by fans of the first two.
If you haven’t seen Hellboy since its release, I highly recommend checking it out again as it’s streaming on Netflix. Like most of del Toro’s films, it’s aged like fine wine and only gets better with each passing year.
The 2004 film introduced a demon (played by Perlman), raised from infancy after being conjured by and rescued from the Nazis, who grows up to become a defender against the forces of darkness.
The supernatural world of Korean folk horror movie Exhuma grows larger with the arrival of prequel spinoff webtoon Maengjong this weekend, Variety reports today.
Naver Webtoon debuts Maengjong on May 30.
The series hails from Haemuri (Olgami) and will trace the high school origins of how shaman duo Hwarim and Bonggil, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun in the 2024 film, came together to face occultish threats.
The story is set to begin when “Hwarim, who has been concealing her identity following a childhood encounter with a snake spirit called Jin, crosses paths with Bonggil at their school.”
Variety notes that Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun participated in the project’s early concept stage.
“We are presenting ‘Maengjong,’ a new series capturing the appeal of the horror-occult genre, ahead of the full summer season,” said Lee Jeong-geun, Naver Webtoon’s Korea webtoon content leader. “With the high school story of Hwarim and Bonggil, who left a strong impression in the film ‘Exhuma,’ enhanced by Haemuri’s characteristic tense direction, we expect it will be a welcome work for genre fans.”
“It is meaningful that the spin-off story of ‘Exhuma,’ loved by many audiences, expands by meeting the new grammar of webtoon,” said Lee Hyeon-jeong, managing director of the film business division at Showbox, which distributed the film. “We hope it will be a fresh experience for both film fans and webtoon readers.”
Exhuma was a breakout hit in 2024, becoming the first Korean occult film to surpass 10 million ticket buyers and the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. I wrote in my review that “the intricately woven Exhuma delivers one of the year’s biggest surprises in horror so far.”
The bond between Hwarim and Bonggil was one of the film’s highlights, making this prequel webtoon a must for fans.
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