• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

HELLBOY!! Movie reboot
3 3

209 posts in this topic

I saw it this past Friday and I thought it was pretty good.  I prefer the del Toro ones more but this one is worth a watch.  Now I haven't read any of the source material so I can't speak to that.  They definitely took advantage of the R rating with the gore and cussing, which I was fine with but might bother others.  I think the C ratings given above were appropriate.  This wasn't the best thing ever but I enjoyed it and will watch it again on tv or a movie channel. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Saw the movie tonight...not sure what to think...and I’m a HUGE Hellboy fan.

I recently read through the books and this one seemed to stay much closer to the source material than the Del Toro movies, but I can certainly see the complaints about the poor editing. The movie jumped to scenes that seemed to come out of nowhere, like the Baba Yaga visit and the Hell on Earth scene...absolutely no setup and *poof*, you’re in a scene that doesn’t make a lot of sense. They really needed to have someone set this stuff up a little better with some storytelling prior to a random scene showing up.

I did like the fact that it was darker, and more of a horror film (although not scary)...seemed to fit the feel of the source material better.

Some of the lines were pretty cheesy...”stay behind me”. Come on. I wasn’t really feeling the Monaghan character and they botched the Lobster Johnson intro by going off --script and having him show up in the Seed of Destruction line.

They really could have done without the whole Hellboy in Mexico intro scenes and used that time to setup more of the backstory for the upcoming scenes...that whole beginning of the movie just seemed to be a gratuitous way to get that one-shot covered in the movie and felt completely unnecessary for the main storyline. 

I liked the Hellboy vs. the giants scene, the Baba Yaga house scene and the ending 60-days later scene with the awesome Motley Crue Kickstart My Heart song was pretty badass...the only good song I heard in the entire score.

Rant over. I’ll be watching it again, but they certainly missed the mark with a movie that had a lot of promise. Bummer.

Edited by AGGIEZ
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

I wonder if this would have done better box office wise putting it out during August?

Putting it out in the same time frame as Captain Marvel, Shazam and Avengers: Endgame  doesn't seem so business savy.

AND, letting the director actually have final cut ownership. He's a seasoned production lead, so to hear of the edit issues repeatedly and how the producers took control from him hints to part of the bigger problem.

But I was wondering why they didn't go for a Halloween release.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

I wonder if this would have done better box office wise putting it out during August?

Putting it out in the same time frame as Captain Marvel, Shazam and Avengers: Endgame  doesn't seem so business savy.

I would guess that a Halloween release would have done exponentially better...but maybe not...the critic slams would have still been there regarding the sloppy storyline and editing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, AGGIEZ said:

I would guess that a Halloween release would have done exponentially better...but maybe not...the critic slams would have still been there regarding the sloppy storyline and editing.

Also I think it being a non-Marvel/DC movie had something to do with.

Not many non-Marvel/DC superhero/comic book movies light it up at the box office.

It will be interesting now to see how Bloodshot and the Spawn reboot do.

I am betting the Vin Diesel Bloodshot movie does very good numbers. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's also worth pointing out that the earlier Hellboy films weren't exactly blockbusters. They were both modest successes in comparison to their budgets, but I don't think that the world was really clamoring for a new Hellboy flick. Even if Del Toro, Perlmen and Co were onboard, I think it would probably underwhelm at the box office. Subtract those elements, add a more restrictive "R" rating, and then, apparently, deliver a poor product (I haven't seen it yet, basing this off of general reaction and reviews) and you've got a recipe for exactly the kind of disappointing business it is doing. I don't think it would matter much what time of year you released it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, F For Fake said:

It's also worth pointing out that the earlier Hellboy films weren't exactly blockbusters. They were both modest successes in comparison to their budgets, but I don't think that the world was really clamoring for a new Hellboy flick. Even if Del Toro, Perlmen and Co were onboard, I think it would probably underwhelm at the box office. Subtract those elements, add a more restrictive "R" rating, and then, apparently, deliver a poor product (I haven't seen it yet, basing this off of general reaction and reviews) and you've got a recipe for exactly the kind of disappointing business it is doing. I don't think it would matter much what time of year you released it.

Unfortunately, with a film called 'Hellboy' there is a select audience that will attend such a production while others will avoid it. Especially with an R-Rating, you limited it further. But the second film was considered a minor success.DC_MCU_BO190419c.thumb.PNG.71f1c8ec1f5df383e2e976d91ef06306.PNG

When Del Toro conducted his 24-hour survey to see how much interest there was in a Hellboy 3, within that time he had 134K responses wanting this film. So you would hope the market had matured in being aware of independent comic book productions in some way. If a TV show like 'The Walking Dead' can become one of the most massive hits in small screen history, Hellboy would have a solid shot if placed in the right hands.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In posting that, I wonder if that is the right media to build out the Hellboy Universe with B.P.R.D., Abe Sapian, Lobster Johnson and many others. TV would allow for a longer and steady path to convey these wild and entertaining stories without cramming them into a 2 hour production.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw the movie yesterday at a matinee, so there's another $9 they can count. lol

I'm a fan of the original movies, and I'm aware of the lengthy history of books available for the past 25 years. As a "casual fan" of Hellboy, I'd say that this movie definitely comes across as a "full reboot" because Broom is back (and a much younger-looking actor).  There was lots of information, too quickly, which is in contrast to my recently binge-watching The Umbrella Academy which was lots of information, too slowly.  I always prefer "too much info" to "not enough info" but there are unconnected threads to the story which are difficult to follow. Visually, the prior Hellboy movies were superior. I'm not a big fan of "gross out" scenes (Baba Yaga), and the violence of "Hell on Earth" was suddenly gratuitous compared to the rest of the movie.  

As others have said, there's just a limited audience for this type of movie... and if someone has a budget for "April movie money" they're more likely to see Endgame twice, or Shazam and Endgame, and Hellboy is an "also ran" barely making 3rd place monthly comic movie money.

Edited by valiantman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

Also I think it being a non-Marvel/DC movie had something to do with.

Not many non-Marvel/DC superhero/comic book movies light it up at the box office.

It will be interesting now to see how Bloodshot and the Spawn reboot do.

I am betting the Vin Diesel Bloodshot movie does very good numbers. 

Good point. Disney just needs to buy Dark Horse/Legend comics...problem solved

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

Millennium and Lionsgate’s Hellboy reboot earned $1.323 million (-73%) on Friday, setting the stage for a miserable $3.69 million (-69.4%) second weekend and $19.48 million ten-day total. If that holds, it’ll be the fifth-biggest second-weekend drop ever for a “big” comic book superhero flick.

Wow!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

Saw it yesterday and my wife summed it up well.  We were leaving and she said - that was plain aweful. 

What, full of awe?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
3 3