Hellboy Reboot Ends Box Office Run Falling $75 Million Short of Original Movie

As quickly as it arrived in theaters, Lionsgate’s Hellboy reboot exited cinemas across the country. After just five weeks in theaters, Lionsgate has pulled the plug on the gritty reboot because of abysmal box office numbers. According to Box Office Mojo, Hellboy (2019) grossed just $21.9 million in its five-week run. With an opening weekend of $12.05m, the film finished with a box office multiplier of 1.81x, enough to make any studio executive shudder. Not just that, but the film reportedly featured a production budget of $50m, meaning the film likely lost the studio at least $28.1m, not counting publicity and advertising.

In contrast, Guillermo del Toro‘s original Hellboy made $99.32m WW over the course of its theatrical release. del Toro’s sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, ended up making a healthy $160.38m globally. Hellboy had a production budget of $66m while Hellboy II increased the budget to $88m. The latter was nominated for an Oscar in Best Makeup.

The writing on the wall for the Hellboy reboot came when reviews first service, widely panning the Neil Marshall film. The film opened at a shockingly low 9 percent Rotten on Rotten Tomatoes, before eventually increasing to 16 percent Rotten. Its Audience Score is holding steady at 59 percent on the review-aggregating site. Shortly after critics started panning the film, Hellboy star Milla Jovovich took to Instagram in defense of the production.

“All I’m going to bed is this: all my raddest films have been slammed by critics,” Jovovich says. “It’s f**cking hilarious. Dazed and Confused? Seriously? Classic movie. The Fifth Element! You would have thought that was the worst movie ever made if you read the reviews in like ’98. Zoolander? Slammed. Joan of Arc? Disaster. Resident Evil? Let’s not even go there.

“Anyway, every one of those films is now a cult classic,” the actor continues. “EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. And this [Hellboy] will be too. Mark my words. Why? Because of the actors…They are all so damn wonderful and talented, the movie is worth seeing just because they’re in it, especially one that’s so much fun to experience as this is.”

Did you catch Hellboy in theaters? What’d you think of the hard R reboot? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or by hitting me up on Twitter at @AdamBarnhardt!

A home media release date for Hellboy has yet to be announced.