Hellboy II, Josie and the Pussycats Among Comic Book Movies on the Big Screen at New York Museum

This one slipped past us: The Dryden Theatre, part of the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, has been holding screenings of comic book movies all summer long. Just yesterday, the cinema screened The Rocketeer, and in June and July had movies like Superman: The Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. August, though, is maybe the most interesting month of the event, with four of the five movies being based on independent comics, rather than Marvel and DC books. Only Ang Lee’s underappreciated Hulk breaks the trend and brings a superhero movie to the big screen.

Each Sunday in August, The Dryden Theatre hosts a screening of one comic book movie, projected on film and costing just $12 for admission. You can get more details and tickets here.

Next week, on August 10th, they’re screening Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which means they’re actually beating the new Hellboy to the screen by about a month. Road to Perdition follows on August 17th; Hulk will be the August 24th screening; and Josie and the Pussycats is wrapping up the month (and the series). 

That’s appropriate, for a movie that was just yesterday named the #1 comic book movie of all time by internet critic Kyle Kallgren of Brows Held High. Yes, it’s a list of comic book movies entirely devoid of mainstream superhero movies and the like, but still!

Hellboy II: The Golden Army, directed in 2008 by Guillermo del Toro, was a box office disappointment at the time of its release, and as a result, the creative team never got to make their planned third movie. The world del Toro built remains beloved by fans, though, and the conversation around whether this movie was underrated or just didn’t quite live up is an interesting one.

Road to Perdition, directed by Sam Mendes in 2002, is one of the most celebrated comic book movies of all time. Mendes’ follow-up to American Beauty, the movie was Paul Newman’s final on-camera role, and — weirdly — the first comic book adaptation ever to feature Tyler Hoechlin, who would go on to play Superman on Supergirl and Superman & Lois.

Hulk is the sole “Big Two” movie here, although it is obviously not the MCU version of the Hulk. Lee’s movie was way more visually daring than most comic book movies, incorporating elements of comic book language like panel transitions.

Josie and the Pussycats, directed in 2001 by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, is loosely based on the Archie Comics characters of the same name, but really it’s a commentary on modern fandom and consumerism (well…as modern as 2001 could be, but there’s plenty of people who will tell you the movie is way ahead of its time).