David Harbour thinks the real reason for the 2019 Hellboy reboot's failure was Guillermo del Toro's fans. Last year, Harbour starred in Hellboy as the titular demon/superhero from the Mike Mignola comic. Despite Harbour's enthusiasm for the project, Hellboy was ravaged by critics for its nonsensical story and poor character development. To make matters worse, it bombed at the box office and was unable to reach even its $50 million budget. To no one's surprise, no sequels are expected.
In 2004 and 2008, del Toro directed two Hellboy films that were received far more favorably by critics and fans. A third film was initially planned to round out del Toro's trilogy, but when funding fell through, the film was scrapped. Instead, Harbour's reboot was born. In the months since its disappointing debut, Harbour has spoke about Hellboy's reception. While Harbour acknowledged that it had some issues, he also believes it wasn't given a fair shot because of comparisons to other films. That theme seems to continue with his latest comments.
During an Instagram Live, Hellboy was one of the topics Harbour touched upon. This time, Harbour explained he believes Hellboy failed because fans cherished del Toro's films so much, and therefore rejected the reboot before it even got off the ground. Harbour's disappointment with the entire situation was very clear, though he did make sure to mention that it's "people's right" to feel differently about things. His entire comments are as follows:
I think it failed before we began shooting because I think that people didn’t want us to make the movie and for some reason there was like a big… Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman created this iconic thing that we thought could be reinvented and then they certainly - the loudness of the internet was like, “We do not want you to touch this.” And then we made a movie that I think is fun and I think had its problems but was a fun movie and then people were just very very against it and that’s people’s right but I learned my lesson in a lot of different way.
When it comes to beloved properties, fans can be very protective about the films and shows they love, and they can be incredibly outspoken about the ones they don't. Harbour's idea has some merit, and that's largely because of the origins of the reboot. As mentioned before, the 2019 Hellboy was created from the dismissed plans for del Toro's third movie. Hellboy fans were expecting a continuation of something they loved, but ended up with something completely new. While it's not fair that Harbour and the others who worked on the 2019 Hellboy were saddled with poor expectations from the start, it does make a case that studios shouldn't reboot things just because they can.
Harbour has plenty of other projects on the horizon to keep him busy, from Black Widow to the fourth season of Stranger Things. At the present moment, both are delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, though it's certain they will be released eventually. Hellboy might not have worked out, but Harbour's career will continue on just fine without it.
Source: David Harbour/Instagram
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