Hellboy Is Not Dead, Reboot Movie To Start Shooting Soon

Things are moving fast in the world of Hellboy. Only a few months ago it looked like it was the end of the road for movie versions of the cigar-chomping demonic superhero, when director Guillermo Del Toro announced that he was not going to make Hellboy 3.

However, this was followed by the surprise announcement that the property was being rebooted, with a star and director attached. It has now been revealed that the film will start shooting in the fall, and Lionsgate is close to signing on to release it.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the company is in "final negotiations" to pick up the movie. Lionsgate is best known for the Hunger Games series, as well as the Saw franchise, and current releases The Big Sick and All Eyez On Me.

The new Hellboy film will be titled Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, and is set to star Stranger Things' David Harbour. It will be directed by Neil Marshall, who is best known for his work on Game of Thrones, as well as movies such as Doomsday and The Descent. Hellboy creator Mike Mignola is also involved with the film.

In a recent interview with the Post Mortem podcast, Marshall explained that, unlike Del Toro's two Hellboy films, he would be making a more adult movie.

"We can make the movie we want to make," he said. "It's not like I'm going to force it to be R-rated, but if it happens to come out that way, just because of my own sensibilities, then fine. And nobody's going to stop us. So, that's the main [difference].

"And I'm sure, obviously, the success of things like Deadpool and Logan have not hurt that cause. But, also, when you go back the original material, it is kind of bloody, so I'm going to embrace that."

Hellboy first appeared in 1993, and has featured in a wide variety of regular comic books, miniseries, one-shots, and crossovers since then, published by Dark Horse Comics.