It’s fair to say when it was first revealed that the Hellboy franchise was going to be rebooted and director Guillermo del Toro and star Ron Perlman wouldn’t get the chance to make a third film and complete their trilogy, fans of the Dark Horse comics character were pretty angry. The more we’ve learned about the project though, the more people’s opinions of it have begun to change and after Lionsgate showed off what was apparently a very impressive trailer at New York Comic Con, everything seemed to be on the right track.
Judging by the online reactions to it, everyone was pretty pleased with what they laid eyes on last month, and though the studio still hasn’t made it available online just yet, it seems that they’ve already begun test screening the film. However, unlike reactions to the trailer at NYCC, the response hasn’t been great, with audiences finding the reboot to be “pretty bad.”
A few users have hopped on Twitter to share some intel with us, and trusted source Daniel R says that “the reactions from test screenings for Hellboy so far are…pretty bad. Which is a shame, I was really looking forward to it.” Meanwhile, KC Walsh replied to him, saying: “Harbo[u]r tries his best but the dialogue, villain and story seem to be lacking.” And finally, Disney Insider’s Styler Shuler added: “Daniel heard right, I’ve also heard bad things about this film… David Harbour is apparently pretty decent though.”
Of course, the movie industry will always hold del Toro’s Hellboy pics in high regard, and rightfully so, but seeing as creator Mike Mignola has been heavily involved in this reboot gave us hope that it’d be able to match, if not surpass what Guillermo delivered to us with his two films. And though test screening reactions aren’t always the best indication of how a movie will turn out, it’s still disappointing to hear that folks aren’t enjoying it.
Then again, Lionsgate has tons of time to take this feedback to heart and fix things up, as the Hellboy reboot won’t be storming into theaters until April 12th, 2019. And when it does, star David Harbour will be joined by Ian McShane, Daniel Dae Kim and Milla Jovovich (Monster Hunter) as the malevolent Blood Queen.
