I enjoyed both Hellboy (2004) and it’s sequel, Hellboy: The Golden Army (2008) and for awhile I couldn’t understand why both movies underwhelmed at the box office.

Before now, that is.

What I missed was that Hellboy was always a niche character.

He was in the comics and apparently he’s the same in the movies. And that’s okay, as long as filmmakers understand that, and work within those limitations.

And that means (relatively) small budgets and reasonable performance expectations because hopefully Lionsgate isn’t expecting Captain Marvel-level performance when they’re likely to get Ant-Man And The Wasp or Shazam.

And that’s perfectly okay and something that can be built upon but not if they’re expecting an overwhelming hit, which is likely to not be the case.