Warner Brothers and Paradox entertainment have announced a deal which confirms that production on a Conan movie should start within 2007. The deal has the potential for more Conan movies should the partners agree to proceed.
Boaz Yakin has been hired as scriptwriter on the upcoming movie; he is known for titles like Remember the Titans and The Rookie. One of the producers will be Akira Goldsman, known for titles like Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Cinderella man, DaVinci code and the Oscar-winning A Beautiful mind, while additional producers include Irving Azoff, Jon Jashni and Richard Alexander. A director for the movie is to be selected this autumn.
The new writer, who may also turn out to be the director as he has directed Remember the Titans and Fresh among other movies, claims to be a fan of the Howard series since childhood. His script will aim to be closer to the original Howard works and the first movie will most likely be a more authentic take on Conan the Barbarian. The original screenplay for the DeLaurentiis movie carried the signatures of John Milius and Oliver Stone.
Warner Brothers had been eager to bring Conan back to the silver screen and the Wachowski brothers almost took on the job while Robert Rodriguez was also considered but his choice to quit the Directors Guild of America in order to co-direct Sin City ruled him out.
The movie will help game developer Funcom bring more attention to its upcoming Conan based MMO, Age of Conan - Hyborian Adventures. The new game, expected to release in December 2006, is set to launch renewed interest in Howard's classic tales of battle and heroism while the movies should help lure in mainstream audiences. Since Funcom has the rights to develop Conan based MMO games until 2023, more movie/game tie-ins should come in the following years.
We cannot help but wonder who the new Conan will be and although there are a few obvious candidates such as The Rock or even Vin Diesel, we would enjoy a newcomer, someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger was at the time of the original Conan the Barbarian movie.
