Only four years have passed since the last Hellboy reboot was released, and already a new take is in the works. Millennium Media revealed last week that it would be revamping the franchise once more, and the first film in a potential series of films will be titled Hellboy: The Crooked Man.
Hellboy: The Crooked Man, based on the eponymous comic book series, will be directed by Brian Taylor, with Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden writing the screenplay. Taylor provided details about the upcoming reboot to Steve Weintraub of Collider, saying:
"So first of all, I love the character of Hellboy and my favorite run of the character is this particular era. The GDT movies were massive scale space operas and just pure Del Toro through and through. But some of the comics Mike (Mignola) was doing at the time had a very different feeling."
"More lean and mean, creepy folk horror. A younger Hellboy, wandering the dark corners of the world... Paranormal investigator, night stalker... The Crooked Man in particular is just such an iconic book—written by Mike, drawn by Richard Corben, another legend." he added.
The Hellboy comics are known for having dark and adult themes, and fans have long hoped for adaptations that aren't toned down for the sake of reaching a broader audience. Taylor made it clear why the Crooked Man adaptation needed an R rating.
"We’ve definitely had a discussion of, you know, it doesn't really serve anybody to make something R for R’s sake. To say it has to be R so we have to add A, B and C. But this material, this original material is dark and scary and violent and adult. So in order to really embrace that, we just don't wanna have any handcuffs on."
The film industry seems to be running entirely on reboots these days. The studio's decision to remake the series a second time was addressed by Jeffrey Greenstein, President of Millennium Media, who also affirmed his confidence in Brian Taylor.
"The Crooked Man is a departure from all previous Hellboy films where Mike Mignola and the creator of the comics will finally shepherd an authentic version of his stories and characters in film form. [... ]Brian Taylor is an expert across the board, and I couldn’t think of a better person to bring this story to life to show our audience this different and original Hellboy slate of films."
While many Hellboy fans will be skeptical about the reboot, Taylor has argued that Mike Mignola's involvement in the project is an opportunity to go back to the story's origins and deliver to its fans the best Hellboy adaptation yet.
In the comics, the plot centers on Hellboy and Tom Ferrell as they help a young female witch in the Appalachian Mountains. Their journey takes them to a part of the mountain dominated by "The Crooked Man," an eighteenth-century miser and war profiteer named Jeremiah Witkins who was hanged for his crimes yet returned from Hell as the region's resident Devil.
Although there hasn't been any news on casting, David Harbour's return as the well-intentioned half-demon Anung Un Rama is highly unlikely. The 47-year-old actor recently revealed details about his busy itinerary for this year, which includes concurrent filming of Marvel's Thunderbolts and Season 5 of Stranger Things.
On the other hand, Ron Perlman, who played the title character in Guillermo Del Toro's adaptation of the Hellboy series, has previously expressed interest in taking on the part again. Del Toro had intended for Hellboy 3 to provide his character with a conclusive finale, but the project was never completed.
The reboot is set to be produced by Millennium Media in collaboration with Dark Horse Entertainment, and production is scheduled to begin next month.
