After the movie’s infamously long road to its initial release, Hellboy: The Crooked Man is finally coming to streaming platforms. The 2024 movie served as both a reboot of its eponymous franchise, and adaptation of the graphic novel storyline of the same name, seeing the тιтular supernatural hero and a rookie B.P.R.D. agent stranded in the Appalachian Mountains and investigating local occurrences tied to the malevolent тιтular enтιтy. Led by Jack Kesy, Hellboy: The Crooked Man took a year and a half to release after it wrapped filming, with it being dropped directly to VOD platforms in the United States.
Now, Hulu has confirmed that Hellboy: The Crooked Man will be coming to the streaming platform. The film, helmed by Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance‘s Brian Taylor in his comic book genre return, will premiere on the streamer on March 7, almost exactly five months after the surprising decision to send the reboot directly to VOD in the US after getting limited theatrical releases in certain international markets, where it grossed just $2 million.
What Hellboy: The Crooked Man’s Streaming Release Means
The Movie May Finally Get The Chance To Build An Audience
While the movie has technically been available for those with access to digital movie libraries, Hellboy: The Crooked Man‘s streaming release is a very good thing for the film. Streaming licensing and profit sharing between studios and platforms is a more complicated web when it comes to who ultimately comes out in a positive financial position, particularly on a movie of a smaller or more moderate caliber which is more bound for financial success in home markets than in theaters.
That being said, regardless of what the movie’s Hulu premiere means for making back its reported $20 million production budget, Hellboy: The Crooked Man‘s streaming release will at least put the movie in front of a wider group of audiences. Considering the David Harbour-led Hellboy reboot was an infamous critical and commercial flop, it’s understandable Ketchup Entertainment would be reluctant to repeat the same financial failure with a theatrical release. With Hulu having over 51 million subscribers as of last year, that’s also a sizable audience to put the movie in front of.
Those with both a Disney+ and Hulu subscription can link their accounts, thus creating a shared library of тιтles on the former streaming platform.
The other major benefit of the movie’s Hulu premiere, as well, is that the Hellboy franchise has a precedent of enjoying success on streaming platforms. Harbour’s movie, which holds thoroughly Rotten scores of 17% and 44% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, began climbing Netflix’s global charts in early 2024, while Guillermo del Toro’s films often find themselves trending when they come to a new streaming platform. Though reception to The Crooked Man was divided prior to its release, the promise of new Hellboy content could draw more eyes to the film than its limited international theatrical or VOD releases.
Our Take On Hellboy: The Crooked Man’s Streaming Release
It Could Be The Start Of A Cult Following
Though the movie’s streaming premiere could fall on the same deaf ears as its VOD release, the movie coming to Hulu is definitely the best thing to come from the movie’s rocky road. Lesser availability often creates larger interest in a film, as seen by Dogma‘s fervent cult following, and with Hellboy: The Crooked Man doing better review-wise than Harbour’s reboot, it might have all the making to become a cult classic with a steady life on streaming.
Source: Hulu
