Hellboy creator hopes reboot launches Hellboy Cinematic Universe

August 8th 2017, 3:29pm

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

One of the upcoming comic/reboots I'm most interested in checking out (at least the trailer) is director Neil Marshall's upcoming reimagining of HELLBOY via HELLBOY: RISE OF THE BLOOD QUEEN.

As we all know the new film will be R-rated and star STRANGER THINGS' David Harbour as the new Big Red, along with Ian McShane as new Professor Broom, and we know that the new flick will NOT feature a Ron Perlman cameo and that Guillermo Del Toro gave the film his blessing.

But what does HELLBOY creator Mike Mignola think of the new film?

Below you will find some choice bits from an interview Mignola had with The Verge, where he covers such interesting topics as his involvement in the new movie, the film's R-rating, and even his hopes that the upcoming reboot will help launch a Hellboy Cinematic Universe.

You can read through Mignola's comments below and then make sure to hit us up on social media and let us know what you think of the upcoming reboot so far on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram!

Mike Mignola on a HELLBOY Cinematic Universe:

Yeah. It’s a very loose adaptation of one of the Hellboy graphic novels. When you have more books out there, you have a lot more to sift through. You can look around at how big the world is, and borrow pieces from here and there. You want to sell a larger world, but you have to pick and choose what goes in there. The challenge for us has been to not lose sight of the specific story, but suggest the elements of a larger story. My hope is that this introduces a lot of stuff that then expands into a Hellboy Cinematic Universe.

Mignola on HELLBOY's new R-rating:

That’s been the feeling from day one. It’ll lean in the horror direction, more so than the fantasy direction del Toro was doing. When Neil came on, we decided to go for an R rating, so he doesn’t have his hands tied, and so he can go as dark and as tough as he wants to go. I was a fan of his, and when he came onboard, I thought it was terrific: now it’s really going to be an action-horror film.

It’s not that we want to wallow in blood, but when you do a PG-13 rating, you bang your head into rules about how intense certain things can be. I think it helps that Deadpool and Logan were R-rated, and what I’ve been telling people is that the tone of it will be much more the Logan approach: lean, dark, tough, and not something that stops to show limbs flying through the air.

Mignola on his part in the new production:

I’m a weird kind of co-executive producer. I’m not actually sure what my title is, but unlike the del Toro movies, where I was active in pre-production and design, I’m not doing that this time around. When the decision was made to do another movie, I got involved, basically saying, “If you’re going to do that story, don’t do this, or that, change this, and that.” I helped to steer it. Christopher Golden and I did write a couple of drafts of the screenplay and got it on track, and then the decision was made to do a reboot. I really just get questions about how things work, and while I’m not doing a lot, I’ve been talking with the creature-design guy and the makeup guy to get the look of Hellboy and his hand, and things like that.

HELLBOY: RISE OF THE BLOOD QUEEN starts shooting this September in the UK and Bulgaria.

You can read the full interview RIGHT HERE.