Last week there was a lovely news story about Ron Perlman dressing up as Hellboy once more to make a kid’s wish come true. Adding further to the bittersweet nature of the story was the fact that the kid was suffering from leukaemia and Perlman agreed to do this as part of the Make a Wish foundation, a worthy cause if ever there was one. This also seemed like the closest we would ever get to a HELLBOY 3. The two HELLBOY films so far have been solid if unremarkable hits but retain a loyal fanbase. The problem seems to be that they don’t make AVENGERS levels of cash and top out around 100 million after just about breaking even.

It would appear though that after the recent San Diego comic con and the PACIFIC RIM panel that featured both Perlman and HELLBOY director Guillermo Del Toro, both director and star are actively trying to get a third movie made. Perlman said that “ The first two movies were really set up to have this unbelievable resolve” and that “To not do it particularly in light of the scope that Guillermo is thinking of for the resolve, would be in my mind a little bit of a shame”. This seems to conflict with earlier reports that Perlman wasn’t keen on putting the make-up back on when he is enjoying relative success make-up free on TV with SONS OF ANARCHY.

Del Toro then went on to confirm that “I can publicly say now we are together in trying (to do HELLBOY 3)” he also added that the recent story regarding the unfortunate child was what galvanised him into action.

Okay so this is far from a done deal and if anything sounds more expensive that the previous two films. Will a studio be willing to take a gamble on this? A lot probably depends on PACIFIC RIM which if internet hyperbole is anything to go by, will literally re-define cinema.

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