Sometimes when you hit a significant failure, you need comfort. David Harbour turned to Ryan Reynolds for comfort and advice after the flop of Hellboy. The Emmy-nominated actor who rose to prominence from Stranger Things revealed this in an interview with GQ. Since Reynolds had his own blockbuster failure with Green Lantern, it seemed right to give him a call about how to deal with a box office disaster.
“I know [Ryan Reynolds] a little bit,” Harbour said. “I called him and I was like, ‘Hey man, I just need to know something. You know Green Lantern? Huge flop for you. What the f— is that like, because I think I’m going to hit that right now. Am I gonna be okay? Am I gonna survive this?”
David Harbour said Ryan Reynolds was “sweet” with his response. In the end, the actor was okay as he reached success with Stranger Things season 4 and Black Widow. Still, the Hellboy flop was huge as the film had a $50 million budget, grossing $21 million domestic and ended up at $44 million worldwide.
On the opposite end of the conversations between David Harbour and Ryan Reynolds, he had his failed Green Lantern. It had a $200 million budget and grossed $219 million worldwide. It worked out as he returned to the world of superheroes to become Deadpool, which found great success among fans, critics, and the box office. He found humor in his previous failure by making fun of it with a quick joke in the first film, then killing Reynolds for accepting the script in Deadpool 2.
David Harbour called Ryan Reynolds over Hellboy flop
Before calling Ryan Reynolds, David Harbour started to see red flags over the reboot. He described himself as “naïve and optimistic.” While he was engaged with the source material by Mike Mignola and the character, the audience was not. He eventually realized people were not open to a new version of the character when they were used to Ron Perlman in Guillermo del Toro’s films.
The original films between 2004’s Hellboy and 2008’s The Golden Army were well received by critics. Like the 2019 reboot, the box office was not successful. The first had a $66 million budget but grossed $99 million. The sequel upped the budget to $85 million and grossed $168 million worldwide.
When it comes to a third film, Perlman is open to it despite being in his early 70s. Earlier this year, he came out in support of a final film for the fans, even though he was not excited about the idea. As del Toro is busy and whether a studio will fund the movie, it is hard to say if fans will ever see that conclusion with the original Hellboy.