10 Movie Dreams That Died In 2019
1. Lionsgate's Dream Of Making Hellboy A Thing
2019 saw not just one, but two major comic-book movies fail spectacularly: Fox's Dark Phoenix, and Lionsgate's Hellboy.
The silver lining for the former was that it was ending that particular franchise, and so its failure didn't necessarily impact the future of the brand in a negative way. But in the case of Hellboy, it marked the second time that the horny red demon has failed to resonate with movie-going audiences on a blockbuster scale (the Guillermo del Toro movies are beloved by fans, but didn't make any money), surely dooming the character's cinematic future.
On the surface though, Lionsgate must've felt like they had something pretty great here, and have clearly been intent on turning Hellboy into a major movie brand for well over a decade.
This new movie had an R-rating, something that benefited recent smash-hits like Deadpool, Logan and Joker. It had fan-favourite David Harbour - hot off Stranger Things - in the title role, and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola involved with the script. All the ingredients were there, but it didn't work out, and the movie crashed and burned in quite spectacular fashion.
In a year full of broken dreams, Hellboy's failure is one of the most unjust. Lionsgate, kudos for trying. But it just wasn't to be.
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Got any movie dreams of your own that were destroyed in 2019? Feel free to have a sulk in the comments section below!