Though it remains the best-reviewed installment in the franchise, Mike Mignola recalls the frustrations he once held with Hellboy II: The Golden Army. The 2008 sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s comic book adaptation saw Ron Perlman return as the titular hero as he investigates a mythical prince’s quest to acquire a series of ancient artifacts that could bring about a war between the magic world and humanity. Also featuring the returns of Selma Blair, Doug Jones and Jeffrey Tambor, Hellboy II: The Golden Army was a hit with critics and a modest box office success.
During a recent interview with Screen Rant for the upcoming documentary Mike Mignola: Drawing Monsters, Mignola looked back on his experience with del Toro on both Hellboy movies. While reflecting on The Golden Army, the comic book creator candidly recalled some of his frustrations with the sequel, namely that the three months he spent collaborating with del Toro “didn’t really impact” the sequel at all:
I like being left alone to produce work that I can control. The experience I had on the second movie… I spent three months working on that film, and it didn’t really impact that film very much at all. I came off of that, and I was really unhappy with the second movie. That’s my own problem. I have no good perspective on the film. I just had my problems with the film, and coming off that film, I remember thinking, “Man, if I had spent those three months that I did in pre-production in my studio, I would’ve produced a comic or two that would be exactly what I wanted them to be.”
Mignola would go on to explain that he had an enjoyable time working on the first Hellboy movie with del Toro, as it was “all new” to him in figuring out how to translate his material for the screen. He would conclude, however, that his and del Toro’s “relationship survived” in spite of these issues:
The first movie I have no problem with because that was exciting and an adventure, and that was all new. Figuring out how to make a Hellboy movie — that was all exciting. The second movie was a very different experience. I’ve made my peace with it, but for a while there I was grudging the time I spent on it. But our relationship survived, so that’s nice.
How Hellboy II: The Golden Army Compares To The Rest Of The Franchise
It Remains The Best-Performing Installment
At first glance, Hellboy II: The Golden Army‘s performance would seem like a genuine hit for del Toro and co., with the 2008 sequel having just about doubled its production budget at the box office. That said, del Toro has indicated in the past that both Hellboy movies only had a “small margin of profit” from their theatrical runs before going on to find bigger success on DVD. This has generally been chalked up to being the biggest hurdle for del Toro’s Hellboy 3, with studios reluctant to spend upwards of $100 million to produce a follow-up.
Even still, Hellboy II: The Golden Army remains the most successful installment of the entire franchise. Del Toro’s first movie was a modest enough success to warrant the greenlighting of the 2008 sequel, though David Harbour’s 2019 Hellboy reboot was widely panned by critics and deemed a box office bomb, grossing only $55.1 million against its $50 million production budget, resulting in the development of a second reboot. See how the first three Hellboy movies compare on Rotten Tomatoes and at the box office below:
|
Title |
RT Critics Score |
RT Audience Score |
Box Office |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Hellboy (2004) |
81% |
66% |
$99.8 Million |
|
Hellboy II: The Golden Army |
86% |
71% |
$168.3 Million |
|
Hellboy (2019) |
17% |
47% |
$55.1 Million |
The Creator Will Likely Be Closer Involved In All Future Adaptations
Though Mignola has also indicated that he prefers to be in the world of comic books, his prior frustration with The Golden Army and the failure of the 2019 reboot seems to point to Mignola having a closer creative involvement with all future Hellboy adaptations. With the upcoming release of Hellboy: The Crooked Man, Mignola actually co-wrote the script with his frequent collaborator Christopher Golden and director Brian Taylor, bringing a far more horror-driven approach to the movie franchise.
Mignola has even promised to Screen Rant that The Crooked Man is the most faithful adaptation of his comics yet, expressing his gratitude at the direct translation of some of the eponymous comic’s panels to the screen. While the future of the franchise beyond the upcoming reboot will rely on how the movie performs, it will be interesting to see how his experience with Hellboy II: The Golden Army, both good and bad, influences both The Crooked Man and any future incarnations of the character.
