Yesterday Guardian.co.uk posted an interesting piece on Hellboy II: The Golden Army as a franchise film. The first Hellboy was produced by Revolution Studios and distributed by Columbia. It grossed a bit under $60 million in the U.S. and around $100 million internationally. On a $66 million budget (as listed on Box Office Mojo), that’s not enough to turn a profit, since of course a slice of that gross stays with the theater owners.

So why make a sequel? The Guardian points out that Universal saw that the first film made a lot in its DVD release. In Chapter 7 of The Frodo Franchise, I talk about how some franchises start because a film does well on DVD. That was especially true at New Line Cinema, where the original Austin Powers, Blade, and Rush Hour films didn’t take in a lot at the box office, but their DVDs did; the sequels all distinctly outgrossed their predecessors (p. 206).

Universal was confident enough about a possible Hellboy franchise that they kept on director Guillermo Del Toro and gave him a budget of around $80 million, up from the $65 million of the original. As the article points out, Hellboy II will need to make over $100 million in the U.S. for Universal to consider it a success. That won’t earn a profit, but it will provide enough of a sense of the film’s being a hit that DVD sales will most likely be strong. $200 million would make it a “phenomenon,” but that’s not likely, what with The Dark Knight and other stiff competition coming up.

I note that after the weekend, on Box Office Mojo Hellboy II has slipped to number 2, behind Hancock. Number 2 in total domestic gross, that is, but actually it’s doing better than Hancock. Why? Here I’ve blogged about how to read the sorts of box-office charts that appear on Box Office Mojo and on the various Monday-morning reports of weekend figures. Hellboy II is playing in 3,204 theaters, Hancock in 3,965. If you look at the per-theater average ticket sales, Hellboy II made $1,160 on Monday, Hancock $961. On Tuesday Hellboy II made $995, Hancock $885. By that measure, Hellboy II is still number 1. (Actually Journey to the Center of the Earth, New Line’s new release, is playing in only 2,811 theaters and averaged $969 and $944 on those two days, slightly edging out Hancock for #2.) If you’re a theater owner, that’s obviously the figure you care about. More ticket buyers not only ups your share of the take, but it means more concession-stand sales, which is where theaters make their profits.

So, while Hellboy II may not make $200 million, it’s doing pretty well so far. GDT has expressed interest in making a third installment once he’s finished with the Hobbit and “Film 2” projects. If enough of us buy the Hellboy II DVD, maybe Universal will be keen on the idea.