Fans hoping for a third Hellboy movie from the original creative team, it’s sad to say, but you will not be getting your wish. Despite a grassroots campaign that saw director Guillermo del Toro and star Ron Perlman both come out publicly with the desire for a Hellboy 3 just weeks ago, which got significant response from fans on social media, the director broke the news Tuesday morning that it was definitely not happening.
“Hellboy 3 sorry to report: Spoke with all parties. Must report that 100% the sequel will not happen. And that is to be the final thing about it,” del Toro posted to twitter.
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Hellboy 3 Sorry to report: Spoke w all parties. Must report that 100% the sequel will not happen. And that is to be the final thing about it
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) February 21, 2017
The tweet has a sense of true finality and defeat to it – it’s clear del Toro was willing to make this movie as a passion project (meaning he likely would’ve made little to no money on it), but something major is standing in the way. With the finality, it sounds like either the studio or the rights holder, creator Mike Mignola, have nixed it completely – though that’s merely informed speculation. When del Toro posted in January about the possibility of meetings, he said the meetings would be with Perlman and Mignola (though studios would of course also have to be involved); as del Toro and Perlman have both expressed public interest, it must be one of the other two parties that’s not interested.
The team made two live-action films and two animated films with the same cast, but the last film came out in 2008, already making this an unlikely project. Still, fan support and the fact that the star continually talked about how much he loved the character and role kept hopes alive. When del Toro offered up a twitter poll seeking 100,000 votes of support, he got 133,000 on twitter, plus more from Perlman’s facebook, a significant showing from fans.
Now, with the movie future officially nixed and the comic having come to its conclusion, it looks like the only way fans will enjoy Hellboy in the forseeable future is to look to the past. Luckily, there’s plenty of great entertainment for them to experience in that regard.
