A new Conan movie is coming faster than we thought it might. With the popularity of the new online game and with all the buzz about a spinoff character prequel Thulsa Doom and the loosely related Red Sonja (I said loosely!) Lionsgate is eager to get the ball rolling on this.
we now have confirmation this week that Lionsgate are definitely fast-tracking the project. They’ve hired Dirk Blackman and Howard McCain to do a rewrite on the script, and are currently in search of a director.
Paradox Entertainment CEO Fredrik Malmberg had this to say: “We all want this movie to go into production as soon as possible. It’s a fast-tracked movie. Lionsgate felt the process was enhanced by having a second team come in and do a script.” He also said: “There’s no reason there couldn’t be a Conan movie every two years. He’s almost like Batman: He’s a dark hero. He’s a hard hero. He has to be badass, but we also have to like him.”
I liked the original Conan movies, but I wouldn’t say I was a big fan, but I find myself interested in the remake project.
Getting a new team in to re-write because they just don’t want to sit on it. This makes sense to get this going. They already should have had Conan secretly in prep so that when the rest of the related buzz picked up steam they could have struck while the iron was hot.
Who knows if this remake will be any good, but the excitement around it is ripe right now, and if they can make some announcements to keep people interested by the time this comes out it could be huge.
And if its good, it will be even huge-er!
