Hellboy will be making his way back to the big screen in just over a year. Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment, who have partnered for the production of the upcoming Hellboy reboot, have locked down a January 11, 2019, release date for the movie. This date was initially reported back in September but, at the time, Lionsgate said that the date was inaccurate and that no date had been decided on. Apparently, they liked the date anyway and have placed Hellboy as the first highly-anticipated movie to be released in 2019.

January, historically, has been something of a dumping ground for studios. However, in recent years, more and more blockbuster-level movies are being released and studios are having a tougher time cramming them into the summer movie season or desirable holiday release dates. So, what used to be a wholly terrible month for movie fans has seen more quality releases in recent years. Hellboy looks to potentially capitalize on that, giving moviegoers something genuinely exciting to watch when there likely won't be much in the way of competition. If the new Hellboy is any good, this could pay off in a big way for Lionsgate.

Prior to this Hellboy reboot, which has Stranger Things star David Harbour in the titular role, Guillermo Del Toro had been trying for several years to get Hellboy 3 made, in order to round out his trilogy. Unfortunately, just before the announcement of the reboot, Del Toro declared that the project was officially dead in the water. Ron Perlman, who played the character in Hellboy and Hellboy II: The Golden Army, has made his peace with it, but refuses to talk about the reboot publically.

This new live-action version of creator Mike Mignola's comic book character comes from director Neil Marshall (The Descent), with Mignola heavily involved. The movie has an impressive cast lined-up. In addition to David Harbour, Hellboy stars Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil), Ian McShane (John Wick), Sasha Lane (American Honey) and Daniel Dae Kim (Lost), who was cast after Ed Skrein (Deadpool) walked away from the role of Ben Daimio amid whitewashing accusations. Skrein left the project on his own accord and was not pressured by the studio to do so. Hellboy is currently filming, but not much about the plot of the movie is know, save for the fact that the Blood Queen (Jovovich) is going to be the main villain and that it won't be an origin story.

Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy movies have a loyal fanbase, but the movies were not huge successes at the box office, bringing in a combined $259.7 million worldwide. That's not what a studio expects from a major comic book movie these days, so that's likely why Lionsgate decided to go with a reboot, rather than a continuation. The release date, which comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter, isn't all that surprising, in the sense that it was a previously revealed date. However, if Hellboy becomes a legitimate blockbuster success with a January release, it could mean big things for the future. Not just for Hellboy, but for other studios looking to find room for their marque releases.