Guillermo del Toro says Hellboy 3 “probably won’t happen,” explains what story would have been

Director Guillermo del Toro always seems to have new projects lined up,so many that some appear to be in limbo at times, The Incredible Hulk TV show and Justice League Dark anyone? Anyway whenever a new one is announced fans often question why he chose that project over completing his trilogy with Hellboy 3, as if it was that simple. While taking part in a Reddit AMA, Del Toro was asked this same question. The director provided a somewhat sobering answer for anyone expecting a third movie and also revealed what he wanted to happen:

“Well, you know, we don’t have that movie on the horizon. But the idea for it was to have Hellboy finally come to terms with the fact that his destiny, his inevitable destiny, is to become the beast of the Apocalypse, and having him and Liz face the sort of, that part of his nature, and he has to do it, in order to be able to ironically vanquish the foe that he has to face in the 3rd film. He has to become the beast of the Apocalypse to be able to defend humanity, but at the same time he becomes a much darker being. It’s a very interesting ending to the series, but I don’t think it will happen.”

Del Toro later added:

“I think that the first movie made its budget back, and a little bit of profit, but then it was very very big on video and DVD. The story repeated itself with the second already, it made its money back at the box office, but a small margin of profit in the release of the theatrical print, but was very very big on DVD and video. Sadly now from a business point of view all the studios know is that you don’t have that safety net of the DVD and video, so they view the project as dangerous….Creatively, I would love to make it. Creatively. But it is proven almost impossible to finance. Not from MY side, but from the studio side. If I was a multimillionaire, I would finance it myself, but I spend all my money on rubber monsters.”

Now that del Toro has revealed some of the plot, do you want a third Hellboy film?

Hellboy was released in 2004 and grossed only $99 million at the global box office. Its sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which hit theaters just a week before Nolan’s The Dark Knight, grossed $160 million at the global box office.