Conan the Barbarian Returns

Posted on June 11, 2009

After nearly a decade in development hell, the Conan the Barbarian movie has a green light to move forward. Nu Image/Millenium Films has tapped Marcus Nispel to direct the remake of the 1982 Arnold Schwarzenegger film. Deals were made and then unmade with the Wachowski brothers and Roberto Rodriguez, before Nispel was finally signed.

That opened the door for Nispel, who'll make "Conan" his third redo, after "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Friday the 13th." For Nispel, "Conan" is a job he has dreamed about since his childhood.

Nispel said he will blend his childhood imaginings of the character with the influence of the famous Conan illustrations by Frank Frazetta, and the influence of such viscerally violent period films as Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto." "Conan" maintains a following through such ancillary properties as a Dark Horse comicbook series, a vidgame for Xbox 360 and a Funcom/Eidos multiplayer online role-playing game.

Production will start later on this year in in Bulgaria and South Africa. So far, no one has been cast as Conan.

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