Comic Book Movie With 17% Rotten Tomatoes Score Soars Into Netflix Global Top 10

Summary

• Hellboy
  (2019) enters Netflix’s Global Top 10, despite its critical failure, with 7.5 million hours viewed.
• Despite being a box office flop,
  Hellboy
  reached the sixth spot on Netflix’s weekly chart.
• Hellboy: The Crooked Man
  will bring the demonic lead back to screens, with a story set in the 1950s Appalachia.

David Harbour’s poorly-reviewed Hellboy enters Netflix’s Global Top 10 chart. The 2019 movie saw Harbour take on the role of the titular demonic paranormal investigator, as an ancient and powerful queen brings about the end of days. Hoping to revive the franchise over eleven years after Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy: The Golden Army, the 2019 reboot paled in comparison to its predecessor, with critics panning it as unimaginative and unable to keep audiences invested.

Despite the 2019 Hellboy being deemed a failure, the movie has found a second life through its streaming release. Netflix reports that the Harbour-led comic book movie entered its global streaming charts for the week of March 18-21. With 7.5 million hours viewed, the feature accumulated 3.7 million views, landing it in sixth place among the Global Top 10. Hellboy ranks higher than fellow comic book movie Black Adam, which is no. 10 on the chart.

Can Hellboy Manifest In Theaters Again?

Hellboy failed critically and financially, struggling to break even with its $50 million production budget. It left the feature as one of the most notorious comic book movie flops of the 2010s despite the decade being one of the best periods the genre has ever seen. As such, any hopes for a potential sequel were quickly dashed, once more ending the Hellboy franchise. Despite this, there are still hopes to bring the character back to screens within the next decade.

With Millenium Media and Dark Horse Entertainment working together again, Hellboy: The Crooked Man was announced in 2023, taking inspiration from creator Mike Mignola’s comic miniseries; he will write the script alongside Christopher Golden. Directed by Crank and Happy! director Brian Taylor, the feature will see Jack Kesy take on the role of the demonic lead alongside Jefferson White, Adeline Rudolph, Joseph Marcell, and Leah McNamara. While no release date has been given, the story will take place in the 1950s, when Hellboy battles witches and devils in rural Appalachia.

Though Hellboy could have offered a unique superhero experience amid the narratives of the MCU and DCEU, its poor reception ensured that it would be long forgotten in the same year that Avengers: Endgame dominated theaters. Despite this, its sudden Netflix resurgence could suggest that, with the movie available at home, audiences have decided to give it a chance. While Hellboy‘s cinematic future is already determined, 2019’s box office bomb may at least be seen in a new light.

Hellboy
is available on Netflix.

Source: Netflix