Lionsgate is in advanced negotiations to distribute the reboot of “Hellboy.”
The new film, with the working title “Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen,” stars “Stranger Things” headliner David Harbour as the title character, a demonic superhero first played by Ron Perlman in Guillermo del Toro’s 2004 original movie.
In April, “Hellboy” comic-book creator Mike Mignola announced plans for an R-rated reboot of the franchise with Neil Marshall (“The Descent”) attached to direct.
Andrew Cosby, Christopher Golden and Mignola are writing the script, a departure from Del Toro’s “Hellboy” and its 2008 sequel, “Hellboy II: The Golden Army.” The project is expected to begin production this fall.
Earlier this year, Del Toro had teased fans with talk of re-teaming with Perlman for “Hellboy 3,” but those plans fell through.
In a recent interview with TheWrap, Harbour described the reboot as “darker” and “more of a character piece.”
“It’s a character that I love, and sort of in the way, I think Mike [Mignola] and a bunch of other people saw me in ‘Stranger Things’ and wanted me to play Hellboy and I think he has some parallels to him,” Harbour said.
“He’s another complicated antihero who is not strictly good or bad, he’s just trying to do the right thing. I think he’s a demon, he’s crazy, and he’s also sweet and vulnerable and neurotic […] so there’s a lot of complexity there.”
The first “Hellboy” earned a worldwide total of $99 million at the box office and starred Perlman and Selma Blair
The sequel performed better, earning $160 million worldwide. Although the movies weren’t runaway smash hits, critics loved them, both earning a score in the 80s on Rotten Tomatoes.