The first trailer for Hellboy: The Crooked Man has arrived. The folks at Ketchup Entertainment have revealed the first footage from their upcoming Hellboy reboot. Instead of another big budget comic book flick, this one is going to be a low-budget affair. It’s also going to be more of a horror film than a superhero blockbuster. Is that the right approach for the future of Big Red on the big screen? Watch the trailer for yourself and be the judge.
Needless to say, this doesn’t look to be on the same scale as the Guillermo del Toro movies of the early 2000s. We do get our first look at Jack Kesy as Hellboy. It’s only a little footage so it’s hard to compare him to Ron Perlman or even David Harbour. What’s on full display is The Crooked Man’s R rating and folk horror vibe. For better or worse, Millennium Entertainment and director Brian Taylor are offering something different here.
Here is the synopsis for Hellboy: The Crooked Man.
“The new film will see Hellboy and a rookie BPRD agent stranded in 1950s rural Appalachia. There, they discover a small community haunted by witches, led by a local devil with a troubling connection to Hellboy’s past: the Crooked Man.”
The cast for the film also includes Jefferson White, Adeline Rudolph, Joseph Marcell, Leah McNamara, Hannah Margetson and Martin Bassindale. Mike Richardson, Jeffrey Greenstein, Jonathan Yunger, Les Weldon, Rob Van Norden and Yariv Lerner are producing the film. Mike Mignola, Avi Lerner, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson, Tanner Mobley, Lati Grobman and Christa Campbell are on board as executive producers.
This reboot comes just five years after 2019’s Hellboy. Released by Lionsgate and starring David Harbour in the lead role, the film was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews. It subsequently tanked at the box office, leaving the franchise on uncertain ground. Because the big-budget approach hasn’t worked, Dark Horse and Millennium felt the need to scale things back. They also brought on comic creator Mike Mignola to help pen the screenplay.
“The Crooked Man is a departure from all previous Hellboy films where Mike Mignola and the creator of the comics will finally shepherd an authentic version of his stories and characters in film form,” Millennium Media’s President Jeffrey Greenstein previously said of the film. “This is the first in the series of films that will captivate audiences in familiar (and new) ways. Brian Taylor is an expert across the board, and I couldn’t think of a better person to bring this story to life to show our audience this different and original Hellboy slate of films.”
Hellboy: The Crooked Man is expected to arrive sometime in 2024.
What do you think? Do you dig the trailer? Or do you think this low-budget approach was a bad idea? Join in on the conversation over on Facebook or Twitter!
