They have made two animated Hellboy movies, But why no animated series?, The live action movies were popular but no cartoon had the chance to happen?.
They have made two animated Hellboy movies, But why no animated series?, The live action movies were popular but no cartoon had the chance to happen?.
If done in an appropriate style and genre (no kiddy-style Hellboy stories), this would be the easiest way to deliver continuous stories with no limitations of actor age or extensive CGI to achieve the accompanying characters and surroundings.
I had always assumed that the dvds unfortunately didn't sell enough and so no one committed to a series. i would have loved it though.
For questions such as these it is mighty unfortunate this forum was wiped clean in 2014 due to and along with the rest of the CBR website.
Since one of the main execs and aggregates to Hellboy Animated (as well as the Disney Darkwing Duck creator I believe) was a long time Hellboy forum frequenter and mr Mike afficianado.
Your post pretty much reflects reality however - as far as I know - in that outside of the two animated features no further developing has had the chance to happen.
Why? I believe when Mike Mignola was asked this some six years ago his reply amounted to (in my own words) how in the wake of the (Universal, live action) movies, the rights to both HellboyAnimated DVDs as well as the Amazing Screw-On Head DVD feature have been bought up by a company (Starz Inc.?), which now or eversince attaining those rights decided to seek no further development whatsoever.
So the ghist of it seems that indeed no cartoon has or has had the chance to happen.
Personally I can enjoy all 'we' did get (with or without a 3d movie or any animated whatevers), as the actual 'Mignola-Verse' comics appear pretty much unbeatable as they are anyway, so I count my blessings all the same.
Last edited by Kees_L; 02-07-2017 at 12:16 AM.
SLINT / Mike Mignola / Walt Whitman / Arthur Lourié / Dr. Pepper
Very educational post. I had assumed Dark Horse Entertainment owned the movie rights (live and animated). But after reading your post, I did some quick research.
IDT Entertainment Licenses Animation Rights To Hellboy (2005)
This led to the first two animated movies.IDT Entertainment announced today that it has licensed all animation rights to the Hellboy property from Revolution Studios. IDT Entertainment, in partnership with Revolution Studios, plans to develop animated content for television and home entertainment as well as a full range of integrated marketing applications across all categories. Production will utilize IDT Entertainment's animation studios in Los Angeles. IDT Entertainment Sales will handle worldwide sales and Anchor Bay Entertainment, an IDT Entertainment company, will distribute DVD/video product. IDT Entertainment is a subsidiary of IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT, IDT.C), an international telecom, entertainment, and technology company.
There was a third movie in the works. But then it ended up not being released.The first two 75-minute animated movies, Sword of Storms and Blood and Iron, were aired on Cartoon Network before being released on DVD. The first one aired October 28, 2006, and the second aired March 17, 2007.
And I bet this third one must be really good. 83% of 628 viewers voted on Rotten Tomatoes they liked it.A third animated Hellboy film, The Phantom Claw, has been put on hold. Tad Stones, director and writer of the direct-to-video movies, says the film will star Lobster Johnson and will have some familiar characters, but Abe and Liz will not be in the film (at least not as main characters).
Hellboy Animated: The Phantom Claw
Last edited by Killercroc357; 02-07-2017 at 04:16 AM.
If they did something as good as say, Batman:TAS or Samurai Jack, I'd love it. However, they didn't. Those two animated movies were fine, I recall, but they weren't amazing.
I have the comics, so I don't really need a cartoon to reiterate those stories. It's not like Batman where the mythology is so flexible. I don't know that we need to muddy the waters of who and what Hellboy is any further.
It is a good point about how 'Hellboy' causing a stumbling block in the animated audience this is being designed for. Though any red-blooded, wise comic book reader would have at least a few Hellboy books in their collection.
But if you look at the Spawn animated series that was created back in the 90's, if that was possible and matching the art style of McFarlane, the same could work for a Mignola-based universe.