Lionsgate gets Conan

I feel like we’ve been talking about a new Conan the Barbarian film for so long now and nothing really has happened that I’m not sure what to make of this news, but here goes. Nu Image/Millennium Films (the CONAN rights-holders) have signed a distribution deal with Lionsgate for a new big-budget CONAN film. How big? They’re talking a $100 million CONAN film. Wowsers. One problem: no script and the writers are on strike. Lionsgate and Nu Image/Millennium are both in talks with the WGA to broker similar deals to what United Artists and The Weinstein Company have done independently of the major studios. Once a deal is in place Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer (SAHARA) will begin work on the script. All parties hope to have filming set to begin later this year. So far no director is attached but John McTiernan (DIE HARD, PREDATOR) was recently attached to the project. Of course McTiernan is due to surrender to authorities on Monday to begin serving a four month jail sentence for lying to the FBI. So…who knows. Nu Image/Millennium are working together with Lionsgate currently on RAMBO and the positive experience on that film helped broker the CONAN deal. Expect the Vin Diesel/The Rock rumors to began…….now!