Guillermo del Toro expressed gratitude for Hellboy’s big number one, $23.5 million box office take over its premiere weekend.
“I am so happy,” he wrote on the official Web site’s message boards. “I feel really delighted with our weekend. Just last Friday there were a lot of naysayers that kept predicting we would do between 15-18 mill at the box office. Others kept saying that the critics were never going to get the movie etc, etc... Well, the movie connected with the audience and -in spite of direct competition from other movies- made a whooping $23.5 million dollars opening weekend. #1 position and with an incredible critical reception. VARIETY, NY TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, WALL STREET JOURNAL, JOEL SIEGEL, LA WEEKLY, etc, etc, etc As a matter of fact we rated around 7-3 positive reviews or over in all media. The only high-profile negatives I could spot were Roeper and USA Today. This from a movie that costed almost the same as WALKING TALL with no ‘marquee name’ star and adapted from an "unproven" comic book. I feel very happy and hope you feel the same way. Most of you guys have been along for the ride. It's not over -not yet- but we have reached port safely and happily. We are starting editing the ‘EXTENDED EDITION’ which features around 20 minutes more of material (mainly focused on relationships) and new VFX. As I write this I feel the overwhelming need to say ‘Thank you’ to each and all of you guys.”