Just four years after the last attempt to reboot the franchise, we’re getting a brand new take on Hellboy.
Upcoming movie Hellboy: The Crooked Man is currently in the pre-production stages, with shooting set to start in April in Bulgaria.
No casting has yet been announced – although we know David Harbour and Ron Perlman won’t be returning – but Collider reports that the film will have “three leads” and will be directed by Brian Taylor (Crank). He has co-written the screenplay too, alongside regular collaborator Christopher Golden.
Dark Horse Comics
Inspired by Mike Mignola’s comic book run of the same name, this reboot will be tonally different from Del Toro’s run, instead drawing from folk horror, the genre which heavily inspired the source material.
Taylor said: “The GDT movies were massive scale space operas and just pure Del Toro through and through. But some of the comics Mignola was doing at the time had a very different feeling. More lean and mean, creepy folk horror.
“For me it’s my favorite version of the character. So the appeal of this one to me, is to go back to that and do a real reset, and really give us that version of Hellboy, which I just don’t think we’ve seen yet.”
Sony Pictures Releasing
Set in the fifties, The Crooked Man sees Hellboy team up with a man named Tom Ferrell in Appalachia – Tom has made a deal with the devil to become a witch and now wants to atone for his sins.
From there, it becomes a dark road trip, which Taylor with faithfully recreate: he’s confirmed the movie will be R-rated.
In addition to Hellboy and Ferrell, the third lead of the movie will be a new character the co-writers have invented for the movie. Casting is yet to be confirmed, but audiences should expect a “younger Hellboy”.
No release date for the movie has been confirmed.
