EXCLUSIVE: Millennium Media has revealed plot and production details about its upcoming Hellboy reboot at the EFM in Berlin.

Some aspects of the reboot, which has been in the works for a while, were covered online earlier this week by website Discussing Film. Now we have official confirmation and more detail.

Brian Taylor (Crank) will be directing the new film, whose title is confirmed as Hellboy: The Crooked Man, with production starting next month in Bulgaria. Conversations with cast are in late stages.

Crucially for fans, and for the first time in the franchise, Mike Mignola, creator of the comics, has penned the script alongside his Dark Horse comics collaborator Chris Golden. The story will “expand Hellboy’s world through one of the most beloved issues of the comic series.”

Comic Hellboy: The Crooked Man debuted in July 2008 to correspond with the cinema release of Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

The new film will see Hellboy and a rookie BPRD agent stranded in 1950s rural Appalachia. There, they discover a small community haunted by witches, led by a local devil with a troubling connection to Hellboy’s past: the Crooked Man.

In the comic, 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.

Action specialists Millennium bought the rights to Hellboy in 2018 and the company is hoping this reboot can spawn a successful new series of movies after experiencing box office disappointment on the 2019 update starring David Harbour.

“The Crooked Man is a departure from all previous Hellboy films where Mike Mignola and the creator of the comics will finally shepherd an authentic version of his stories and characters in film form,” said Millennium Media’s President Jeffrey Greenstein who is at the EFM in Berlin talking to potential distributors about the project. “This is the first in the series of films that will captivate audiences in familiar (and new) ways. Brian Taylor is an expert across the board, and I couldn’t think of a better person to bring this story to life to show our audience this different and original Hellboy slate of films.”

Hellboy: The Crooked Man will be a Millennium Media presentation in association with Dark Horse Entertainment. The Nu Boyana production is being produced in association with Campbell Grobman Film.

Producers include Dark Horse Entertainment’s Mike Richardson, and Millennium Media’s Jeffrey Greenstein, Jonathan Yunger, Les Weldon, Rob Van Norden, and Yariv Lerner. Mike Mignola, Millennium Media’s Avi Lerner, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson, and Tanner Mobley and Campbell Grobman Films’ Lati Grobman and Christa Campbell are among executive producers. Sam Schulte will co-produce on behalf of Millennium Media.

Brian Taylor most recently wrote and directed satire Mom and Dad starring Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair, which premiered at Toronto. He recently adapted Robert Kirkman’s graphic novel Outcast for Skybound/Universal.

Millennium’s 2023 slate includes the fourth instalment of The Expendables franchise, and they recently wrapped production on comic book adaptation Red Sonja starring Matilda Lutz, Wallis Day, and Robert Sheehan, and Dirty Angels starring Eva Green, Ruby Rose, and Maria Bakalova.

Millennium Media’s Hellboy reboot The Crooked Man has its lead in the shape of Jack Kesy (Deadpool 2).

Kesy is best known for playing Black Tom in Deadpool 2, and for movies WB’s 12 Strong and Baywatch, as well as series Claws and The Strain.

As previously announced, Brian Taylor (Crank) will be directing with a script penned by Hellboy comic book creator Mike Mignola and Chris Golden.

The movie, which is due to shoot in coming months, will see Hellboy stranded in 1950s rural Appalachia with a rookie BPRD agent. There they discover a small community haunted by witches, led by a local devil with a troubling connection to Hellboy’s past: the Crooked Man.

Additional casting is in the works.

“Jack Kesy is a dynamic actor who has the ability to morph into his roles. His talent and stature are perfect for this younger Hellboy. I was very impressed with him while working together on The Outpost,” said co-President of Millennium Media, Jonathan Yunger.

The Crooked Man will be the first film in Millennium’s development slate with German film and TV distributor, Telepool, owned by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.

Kesy is best known for playing Black Tom in Deadpool 2, and for movies WB’s 12 Strong and Baywatch, as well as series Claws and The Strain.

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