How Guillermo Del Toro Knew Hellboy 2 Wouldn't Last Long In The Box Office

Summer movie season generally means a crowded schedule of releases vying for box office glory, and unfortunately for Guillermo del Toro, his second film in a comic franchise came up on the losing end after it was released in 2008.

In 2020, del Toro lamented in a series of tweets how "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" — featuring the return of Ron Perlman as Big Red — had all but a week after opening on July 11, 2008, to make a dent in the box office before the release of Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight," which was released on July 18. While "Hellboy II" scored a solid $34.5 million opening weekend, del Toro recalled how he saw the writing on the wall for the future of the franchise while the film was in production.

"The tragic fact is that in the middle of the shoot in Hungary, I got a call. The studio was going to move the release date. They were going to launch it against Nolan's 'The Dark Knight,'" del Toro wrote in the tweet. "Right then and there (in that very phone call) I said, 'Let's not bother then ... We will sink second weekend.'"

The director added in the string of tweets that "he was talked off the ledge" about the dim prospects for the film, but the inevitable happened as soon as "Hellboy II" premiered. 

"We went through it all and opened very, very well in our first weekend," del Toro posted, "but then — as soon as 'The Dark Knight' tickets went on pre-sale — the bottom dropped out. It took all the oxygen out of the room."

Released on July 18, 2008, Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" — starring Christian Bale once again as Batman and the late Heath Ledger as The Joker — had a blockbuster opening weekend, scoring $158.4 million at the box office. The business for "Hellboy II," meanwhile, took a steep dive, earning just over $10 million in its second weekend. 

By the time "Hellboy II" ended its theatrical run, the film grossed $168.3 million worldwide against an $85 million budget. For Guillermo del Toro, the box office shellacking was tough to handle, considering how difficult it was to get his short-lived franchise rolling in the first place. 

"The first 'Hellboy' movie was developed before even 'X-Men' was on film," the filmmaker wrote on Twitter. "I remember visiting 'Mystery Men's' set to try to convince Universal to green light it. It languished for a long time. To my mind, the first 'Blade' was instrumental in showing how superhero movies could exist."

Perhaps even more painful to del Toro was the film was moved up on the release calendar to accommodate the release of another Universal property, "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor."

"Our original date in August went to 'The Mummy' and that was that, as they say — chest (sic) la vie," del Toro tweeted.

Guillermo del Toro noted that the reason he was able to make "Hellboy II" was because of the "massive" performance of the first "Hellboy" on Blu-ray and DVD. In fact, according to del Toro, the reception of "Hellboy" in the home video marketplace was so big that then-Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment head Ben Feingold made it one of Columbia Pictures' first Blu-ray releases. 

"Far as I can recall, the numbers for home video surpassed theatrical," del Toro tweeted. 

The director added that because of the success of "Hellboy" on video, Feingold also had a hand in getting "Hellboy II" into its development phase. By the time the sequel was put into play, it was produced by Universal Pictures. Sadly, del Toro added in the tweet thread, the home video sales that helped his "Hellboy" movies get made became less of a factor by 2020. 

"What allowed the two films to exist, it's gone," del Toro posted.

In 2017, del Toro said "Hellboy 3" definitely wouldn't happen, which opened the door for the ill-fated 2019 "Hellboy" reboot directed by Neil Marshall and starring David Harbour in the title role. Despite the financial failings of the 2019 film, word surfaced in early 2023 that another "Hellboy" reboot was on the way with a script co-written by comic creator Mike Mignola. The reboot has already found its lead in "Deadpool 2's" Jack Kesey, who will be wearing the character's horns as a younger version of Big Red in "Hellboy: The Crooked Man," which is grounded more in the comic iteration of the character.