---

---

New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet

Mix a heap of mean little demons, a slice of detective story, a healthy chunk of noir comic book, a bunch of Nazis and a whole lotta mood and you have Hellboy, Mike Mignola’s stylishly cool comic book. The critically acclaimed series will be translated to the big screen by the equally cool Guillermo Del Toro, whose most recent work on Blade 2 has gone severely underappreciated (the film is only okay after an initial viewing but gets exponentially better with repeated viewings). Only one thing can be sure with this project: the film will look cool, gritty and freaking original.

Del Toro signed on to the Demon Detective story after championing its cause repeatedly. His success with Blade 2 gave him the clout he needed to make the project happen; Del Toro has said that it had been a dream of his to make bring Hellboy to the big screen and now he is doing just that. Not only did Del Toro get his wish, but he also got his casting wish when he gave the lead role to veteran actor Ron Perlman, who Del Toro also cast in Blade 2. Hellboy, more than any other comic book based movie made to date, will be a fanboy’s dream come true. (Walid Habboub/BOP)

February 9, 2004
Hellboy played a major part of the LA Comic Book and Sci-Fi convention on February 7th. With director Guillermo Del Toro and actors Ron Perlman and Doug Jones present, a new 60 second trailer was unveiled. Accompanying the trailer was a ten minute montage that will be featured on a Best Buy Preview CD. This marks the beginning of the marketing push for the supernatural actioner. With the studio opting to forego an expensive Superbowl ad, Hellboy will likely get a strong push in regular television ad rotation. The Internet buzz is growing as well, which is the norm for all comic book movies. Most of the buzz surrounds speculation on the plot of the film, which will reportedly focus on Hellboy’s origin. Hopefully, Hellboy can find an audience outside of convention goers and Internet surfers. (Walid Habboub/BOP)

February 24, 2004
As the release date draws closer it becomes clearer and clearer that Del Toro has not strayed far from the original premise of Hellboy as presented in the comics. The title character is basically a child of Satan. The child is brought to Earth in a Nazi expirement originally meant to tip the scales of World War II in their favor. Unfortunately for them, the Allies intercepted Hellboy before his arrival and trained them as one of his own. Now, he and a team of super beings investigate paranormal activities for the sake of humanity. So basically Hellboy is a demon that hunts down other demons, amongst other paranormal creatures. While the story for the film is a mix of many different story arcs from the comics, the focus will be Hellboy finally confronting the Nazi who summoned him originally in 1944. (Walid Habboub/BOP)

Vital statistics for Hellboy Main Cast Ron Perlman, Selma Blair Supporting Cast John Hurt, Doug Jones, Jeffrey Tambor, David Hyde Pierce Director Guillermo del Toro Screenwriter Guillermo del Toro Distributor Sony (Revolution Studios) Trailer Click Here for Trailer Official Site http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/hellboy/hellsite/ Rating PG-13 Running Time 132 minutes Screen Count 3,028 Talent in red has entry in The Big Picture

Comparison films for Hellboy
Title	Date	Opening	Adjusted Opening	Screens	PSA	Adj PSA	Total BO	Adjusted Total	Mult
X2: X-Men United	5/2/03	85.56	85.56	3741	22871.00	22871.0	214.95	214.95	2.51
X-Men, The	7/14/00	54.47	60.93	3025	18007.00	19376.7	157.30	175.97	2.89
Batman	6/23/89	42.71	64.54	2194	19467.00	28297.9	251.19	379.62	5.88
Blade II	3/22/02	32.53	33.82	2707	12017.00	12017.0	81.65	84.89	2.51
Spawn	8/1/97	21.21	27.86	2536	8364.00	10568.9	54.97	72.21	2.59
Blade	8/21/98	17.07	21.94	2322	7351.00	9090.8	70.10	90.12	4.11
Alien: Resurrection	11/28/97	15.69	20.61	2415	6497.00	8209.7	47.76	62.74	1.85