The first trailer for Hellboy: The Crooked Man was released at the start of this month and the response has been mixed at best. Now, we have runtime news and that may or may not bode well for this new take on the character starring Jack Kesy.
According to reliable runtime leaker @Cryptic4KQual, it will clock in at a mere 1 hour, 39 minutes.
With superhero movies, that's typically an indication they're not very good. Then again, this is a lower-budgeted project and could be a smaller self-contained story which isn't quite as CG-heavy as the movies starring Ron Perlman and David Harbour.
At least we know Hellboy: The Crooked Man will be a relatively breezy affair, anyway, and there's every chance it's going to exceed expectations when it finally arrives in theaters (a shorter runtime also means it can play on a greater number of screens, increasing box office revenue).
While he reportedly never visited the movie's set, Hellboy creator and The Crooked Man's co-writer, Mike Mignola, shared high praise for the reboot when production wrapped.
"I have loved what I've been seeing," he said last May. "If fans have been waiting for a Hellboy film that is actually an adaptation of one of my stories I think they are finally going to get one."
"Congratulations to director Brian Taylor and a really wonderful cast," Mignola added, "and to co-writer Chris Golden who did so much to figure out how to give the studio what they wanted and still keep true to the heart and soul of The Crooked Man, my favorite of the Hellboy stories...they did a wonderful job bringing his really horrific character to life."
Stay tuned for further updates on Hellboy: The Crooked Man as we have them.
Director Brian Taylor (Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance) is at the helm of a movie which sets out to expand Hellboy's world through some of the most beloved issues of the comic series. Mike Mignola penned the screenplay alongside his Dark Horse Comics collaborator Chris Golden, suggesting this will be a comic-accurate take on the anti-hero.
According to Hellboy: The Crooked Man's official synopsis, "Stranded in 1950s rural Appalachia, Hellboy and a rookie BPRD agent discover a small community haunted by witches, led by the Crooked Man, a local devil with a troubling connection to Hellboy's past."
On the page, The Crooked Man was an eighteenth-century miser and war profiteer named Jeremiah Witkins who was hanged for his crimes yet returned from Hell as the region's resident Devil.
The movie's cast is led by Jack Kesy (Deadpool 2) as Hellboy, Jefferson White (Yellowstone) as Tom Ferrell, and Adeline Rudolph (Resident Evil) playing Bobbie Jo Song. We'll also see Leah McNamara as Effie Kolb, Joseph Marcell as Reverend Watts, Hannah Margetson as Cora Fisher, and Martin Bassindale as the Crooked Man.
Hellboy: The Crooked Man is heading to theaters later this year but doesn't have a confirmed release date.