Do you remember last month’s Hellboy reboot? You know, the ill-timed one which came out just before Avengers: Endgame? The one starring David Harbour, of Stranger Things fame? Frankly, we don’t either, and it probably has something to do with the fact that it completely bombed.
As reported by MovieWeb, it officially ended its stint at the domestic box office, and the results weren’t too pretty. Needless to say, we wouldn’t be surprised if there won’t be a sequel or follow-up anytime in the near future. As Box Office Mojo details, Neil Marshall’s reboot only raked in a mere $12 million during its opening weekend, and after more than a month in theaters, it topped out at just under $22 million.
When combined with the $18 or so million it took in overseas, that means Hellboy came it at $40M total. This wouldn’t be bad for a smaller, independent film, but with a $50M budget (not accounting for advertising), it’s safe to say Lionsgate is kicking themselves.
So, the question remains: why exactly did it fail? Aside from its many shortcomings, some would argue that no one was clamoring for a new Hellboy movie. Similarly, unlike the first two films, this one didn’t have Guillermo del Toro attached, which arguably hurt its chances of succeeding on name recognition alone.
Director Neil Marshall isn’t the most popular filmmaker out there, and while David Harbour has seen some success on Netflix’s Stranger Things, it looks like that wasn’t enough to convince moviegoers to spend their hard-earned cash. And we haven’t even touched upon the film’s casting controversies, which originally saw Ed Skrein taking on the role of Ben Daimio, a Japanese-American character.
We can’t exactly say we’re surprised by Hellboy‘s disastrous box office run. And though a few of us here at We Got This Covered weren’t particularly thrilled with Marshall’s take on the much-beloved comic series, we’re still holding out hope that the franchise isn’t dead in the water.