Sans Guillermo del Toro, the rebooted Hellboy could join John Wick and Punisher: War Zone over at Lionsgate.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate is close to securing distribution rights for Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, directed by Neil Marshall and starring Stranger Things‘ David Harbour.
This comes after news broke in February that Guillermo del Toro would not be able to make his planned third instalment in the Hellboy saga starring Ron Perlman.
Hellboy 3 Sorry to report: Spoke w all parties. Must report that 100% the sequel will not happen. And that is to be the final thing about it
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) February 21, 2017
Filming for the new Hellboy movie is set to begin this fall. Marshall is planning on using a lot of practical effects for the movie, which is set to be R-rated.
Speaking to the Post Mortem Podcast with Mick Garris back in June, Marshall said:
“We’ve been granted permission to do it R-rated, which for me is just like taking the cuffs off. It’s like, okay, so now we can just make the movie we want to make. 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. … When you go back the original material, it is kind of bloody, so I’m going to embrace that.”