With Guillermo del Toro out, Neil Marshall (The Descent) has stepped in to direct an R-rated Hellboy reboot, which aims to be a dark, violent horror movie. Mike Mignola, creator of the property, is involved in the project, and he’s hopeful that it’s the beginning of a whole new universe.
Speaking with LRM Online, Mignola touched upon his hopes for the future.
“It’s a very loose adaptation of one of the Hellboy graphic novels,” Mignola said of the new movie. “When you have more books out there, you have a lot more to sift through. You can look around at how big the world is, and borrow pieces from here and there. You want to sell a larger world, but you have to pick and choose what goes in there. The challenge for us has been to not lose sight of the specific story, but suggest the elements of a larger story.”
He added, “My hope is that this introduces a lot of stuff that then expands into a Hellboy Cinematic Universe.”
In the world of comics, the Hellboy universe is massive and loaded with all kinds of characters we’ve never seen on screen, so this is certainly an exciting thought.
“American Gods” star Ian McShane will be starring alongside David Harbour in the reboot. McShane will play Hellboy’s adoptive father, Professor Broom.
The new story sees the hero squaring off against a medieval sorceress who seeks to destroy humankind.
The film has been scripted by Andrew Cosby, Christopher Golden, and Mike Mignola, and the plan is to bring it to the screen with an “R” rating. Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin are producing along with Mike Richardson of Dark Horse Entertainment. It is being executive produced by Christa Campbell, Lati Grobman, and Carl Hampe.
Look for the new film in 2018. It’s apparently no longer sub-titled Rise of the Blood Queen.
