The classic horror manga series Hellsing is being made into a live-action movie by Amazon Studios, reports Deadline (opens in new tab).
Amazon is collaborating with John Wick and screenwriter Derek Kolstad for the Hellsing movie, which at the moment doesn’t have a release date. Along with helping to create the John Wick series and writing all three movies, Kolstad is known as a writer on the upcoming Disney Plus series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
“Ever since my brother introduced me to the Hellsing manga and anime some years ago, I’ve been obsessed with adapting it,” Kolstad said. “And when Mike Callaghan and his team managed to secure the rights to then partner us up with Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Amazon, I mean -damn, dude- this is a dream.”
Hellsing’s original manga run began in 1997 and went all the way to 2008. As many popular manga series do, the story of Alucard (literally Dracula spelled backwards) and co. was eventually adapted for an anime series that ran from 2001 to 2002. Producer Mike Callaghan describes the Hellsing movie as “an exhilarating, quirky mashup of action and horror,” which sounds faithful enough to the source material.
“I’ve always loved the vampire genre, especially when a creator is able to put their own unique spin on it, so when Derek introduced me to Alucard and the Hellsing Organization, I knew we had something special in that tradition,” said Callaghan. “Kouta Hirano’s gonzo reimagining of the Dracula-Van Helsing mythology is an exhilarating, quirky mashup of action and horror that’s unlike anything we’ve seen before. We are incredibly excited to partner with Brian and Fred at Automatik and that Amazon is on board to help us bring the wit and madness of Hellsing to life on screen.”
For what to watch right now, check out our round-up of the best movies on Amazon Prime for March 2021.