The Hellboy series is one of those franchises that's never really attracted mainstream attention. The film did just well enough to get a sequel, and that sequel did just well enough to make people hope for more. Much like Pacific Rim, audiences want a sequel and Guillermo del Toro would be happy to oblige. There's just one 2000 lb kaiju in the room preventing any forward movement: the studios won't pony up the dough to make a Hellboy 3.
During his Reddit AMA this afternoon, del Toro was asked the inevitable Hellboy 3 question. Namely "why in the hell do we not have a Hellboy 3 to look forward to?" His answer was as obvious as the question itself, as he said:
Creatively, I would love to make it. Creatively. But it is proven almost impossible to finance. Not from MY side, but from the studio side. If I was a multimillionaire, I would finance it myself, but I spend all my money on rubber monsters.
Both Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman have made themselves rather outspoken on the subject of their mutual desire to make a Hellboy 3 to cap off the series. Anytime the subject comes up, both of them light up with the possibilities of finishing what they started back in 2004 with Hellboy. In fact, del Toro credits the fact that Hellboy II: The Golden Army was even made to the huge showing the film had in its home video incarnation, something it too would replicate in its eventual DVD release. Unfortunately, the market has evolved into one where that just doesn't cut it anymore, or at least Mr. del Toro believes so.
So what was Hellboy 3 going to be about? Guillermo del Toro was nice enough to share the plan he's probably had stored in his mind ever since Hellboy II: The Golden Army wrapped:
The idea for it was to have Hellboy finally come to terms with the fact that his destiny, his inevitable destiny, is to become the beast of the Apocalypse, and having him and Liz face the sort of, that part of his nature, and he has to do it, in order to be able to ironically vanquish the foe that he has to face in the 3rd film. He has to become the best of the Apocalypse to be able to defend humanity, but at the same time he becomes a much darker being. It's a very interesting ending to the series, but I don't think it will happen.
So we have Guillermo del Toro really wanting to make Hellboy III, we have Ron Perlman ready to don the Hellboy makeup at a moments notice, and we've got a fandom ready to receive the film as their very own. And yet, no studio will cough up the cash to make this obviously wanted sequel. Which begs the question, if the studio doesn't do it, who will?
For now, it looks like no one will be making Hellboy III a reality. It's a sad fact, but looking at the box office strength of the last two films, it's not exactly a sure thing, even if the goal was to break even. But hey, at least we've got a Pacific Rim sequel coming soon. That's got to be worth something, right?
Guillermo del Toro will be in our faces with The Strain this Sunday on FX, as well as with Crimson Peak next October. But honestly, that's not enough! We want Hellboy III. Luckily, we have some ideas for how that could happen. Click over to the next page to get them.
So there's one of two ways Hellboy III could find its funding, and both are going to need the help of us – the fans. The first, and more traditional way that Guillermo del Toro could get this dream project made is through some rangling involving Pacific Rim 2. Since the project is in early days yet, there's bound to be a lot of paperwork that needs to be filed in the near future. Which is the perfect time to sneak in a performance clause that would automatically trigger the production of Hellboy III if Pacific Rim 2 reaches a certain level of profit. This helps Universal and Legendary to motivate the fan base to see Pacific Rim 2, so that way they can come back two years later to see the next Hellboy flick.
However, if Universal and Legendary won't play ball with funding the production, then Guillermo del Toro can make a deal similar to the deal Kevin Smith could make himself in order to ensure Clerks III: have the studio pay for distribution of Hellboy III and turn to crowdsourced funding in order to get the funds needed to produce the film. Several fans mentioned this as their first suggestion in the AMA, so it only makes sense that Hellboy III be given a chance to make its money the new fashioned way.
Bottom line: if we fans want to see Hellboy III, it looks like we're going to start saving those pennies for Uncle Guillermo.
