Hellboy reboot gets director, plot details, and an R rating

Hellboy
(Image credit: Summit)

Mike Mignola's iconic independent superhero Hellboy is getting a reboot once again.

Brian Taylor (Crank, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance) is set to direct from a script by Mignola himself alongside his frequent Dark Horse Comics collaborator Chris Golden. Titled Hellboy: The Crooked Man, the film is set to begin production next month in Bulgaria.

Per Deadline, the reboot will see Hellboy and a rookie BPRD agent stranded in 1950s rural Appalachia. There, they discover a small community haunted by witches, led by a local devil with a troubling connection to Hellboy’s past: the Crooked Man. The Crooked Man comic first hit shelves in July 2008.

"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," said Millennium Media’s President Jeffrey Greenstein. "This is the first in the series of films that will captivate audiences in familiar (and new) ways. 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."

The first Hellboy film, directed and co-written by Guillermo Del Toro, premiered in 2004 to modest box office success and starred Ron Perlman in the titular role. A sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, was released in 2008 and earned an Academy Award nom for Best Makeup. 

A third film was cancelled, and we wouldn't hear from the half-demon again for over a decade. In 2019, a reboot of the unfinished trilogy starring David Harbour and directed by Neil Marshall (The Descent) was both a critical and commercial failure.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man does not yet have a release date. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2023 and beyond.

Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for 12DOVE currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.

Read more
Ron Perlman as Hellboy
Original Hellboy actor Ron Perlman "had an opportunity" to reprise the role, but refused to do it without Guillermo del Toro involved
Hellboy pointing his gun.
Win Hellboy: The Crooked Man on Blu-ray
The first Resident Evil movie
A new Resident Evil reboot movie is in the works with Barbarian's director at the helm, and it sounds like it'll be the first full-blown horror movie in the series' history
Constantine
Keanu Reeves just pitched his idea for Constantine 2 to DC: "We’ve been trying to make this film for over a decade"
Clayface in Batman: The Animated Series
A year after pitching the idea to DC, Mike Flanagan is officially writing a Clayface movie
Yeb and the other characters from Bowling With Corpses.
Hellboy creator Mike Mignola introduces a new folk horror shared world in Bowling With Corpses that will "Take inspiration from old stories and make them our own"
Latest in Superhero Movies
The cast of Thunderbolts
Marvel fans are revealing who they'd like to see added to the Thunderbolts lineup, from Moon Knight to a major Hulk villain
Batman and Catwoman talking
Robert Pattinson is hoping to team up with his The Batman co-star Zoe Kravitz on another project soon
The cast of Thunderbolts
Thunderbolts director says the new Marvel movie is inspired by Toy Story 3: "Can they get out of the trash can together?"
Robert Downey Jr announces his Doctor Doom casting at San Diego Comic-Con 2024
"He is so dialed in": Robert Downey Jr. is coming up with backstory and costume ideas for Doctor Doom ahead of Avengers: Doomsday
Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne in The Batman
Robert Pattinson worries he will be a "f*cking old Batman" by the time filming on The Batman 2 finally starts
Lewis Pullman as "Bob" in Thunderbolts
The first look at Thunderbolts' Sentry suit seemingly leaked in new Marvel merchandise
Latest in News
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Dark Souls 2 fans remind Death Stranding 2 director Hideo Kojima that he won’t be taking the DS2 acronym that easily
Minecraft Diamond Armor
Minecraft Pocket Edition got its name because one of its devs was a big "Nintendo nerd" who wanted to pay homage to the Game Boy Pocket
Death Stranding 2
Hideo Kojima says Death Stranding's themes of connection came about because "I thought I lost everything when I became alone nine years ago"
Monster Hunter Wilds trailer screenshot showing a young woman with long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail smiling slightly, pumping her left fist in the air
Monster Hunter Wilds' infamously confusing menus spare no player, not even Gemma's voice actor herself: "This is honestly what I’m struggling with the most"
Death Stranding 2 kiss
Hideo Kojima says "it was very difficult to direct" Death Stranding 2's big kiss scene, but Norman Reedus thinks "it was niiice" locking lips with Léa Seydoux
Ms. Marvel alongside the mutants of Age of Apocalypse
30 years after the original Age of Apocalypse, Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan will travel to the alt-reality to save X-Men history