Imagine being so conceited you believe you are allowed to walk into a fandom, take it over, and then without presenting anything said audience actually wants, demand they go and see it. That is what happened with Hellboy in the lackluster 2019 reboot that not only did no one ask for, but people actively asked them not to do it.

Now lead actor David Harbour has an explanation for why the movie failed. Fault doesn’t lie with those making the movie. Nay, it was because the consumers weren’t mindless locusts that feast upon whatever is presented before them. Those entitled Del Toro’s fans didn’t want this movie and then refused to see it, as reported by Bleeding Cool.

“I think it failed before we began shooting because I think that people didn’t want us to make the movie and for some reason there was like a big… Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman created this iconic thing that we thought could be reinvented and then they certainly – the loudness of the internet was like, ‘We do not want you to touch this.’ And then we made a movie that I think is fun and I think had its problems but was a fun movie and then people were just very very against it and that’s people’s right but I learned my lesson in a lot of different ways.” -Harbour

This sentiment is easily disprovable by looking at the Rotton Tomatoes scores. When even the most rigged reviewing site has the critics lambasting you for producing an uninspiring, unimaginative slog then blame properly lies with you.

Perhaps one day there will be a restoration of the concept of integrity in Hollywood. Where those responsible for failures will own up and announce the screwed up and know where they went wrong. Like any competent business requires its leaders to do in order to survive. With the Corona pandemic gutting the performance of the top industry players that moment where they are thrust into adulthood from their arrested adolescence may be close at hand.