Tag: Conan The Barbarian

Posted on in Film News

EXCLUSIVE: Set Photo From ‘Red Sonja’ Remake Showcases The Fantasy Heroine’s Armor

While we’re still in the dark about Netflix’s overall plans for the Conan The Barbarian franchise after securing the rights to make films, television series, and animated projects, another character birthed from Robert E. Howard’s sword-and-sorcery literary work is getting a second shot on the big screen. Millennium has been developing a new Red Sonja movie for ages that focuses on the redheaded warrior that fought alongside Conan in the pages of Marvel Comics in the 1970s. Those comics helped grow an audience and desire to make a live-action film that was released in 1985 from director Richard Fleischer, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Brigitte Nielsen.

Red Sonja wrapped filming last year but we really haven’t had a great look at the new version of the warrior’s armor/costume outside of the obscured promotional photo released that really only showed-off the new sword. The Ronin is now sharing a new set photo from the film that shows Sonja carrying a bow while on horseback. The image gives us a better idea of what the fantasy heroine’s armor will look like in the film as those duties were handled by costume designer Alison McCosh (Peaky Blinders). Take a look below.

Director Robert Rodriguez (Star Wars, Alita, Sin City) and actress Rose McGowan had once teamed-up to develop a Red Sonja remake after previously working on Planet Terror, but after the disastrous Conan The Barbarian reboot from 2011 those plans vanished.

The latest incarnation of the remake, that mostly shot in Bulgaria, stars Italian actress Matilda Lutz (replacing Hannah John-Kamen) with a supporting cast that features Rhona Mitra (Doomsday, Underworld: Rise of The Lycans), Robert Sheehan (The Umbrella Academy), Martyn Ford (F9: The Fast Saga), Kate Nichols (The Operative), Wallis Day (Infinite), Veronica Ferres (Hector and the Search for Happiness), Michael Bisping (Den of Thieves), Katrina Durden (Shadow and Bone), Oliver Trevena (The Angel), Eliza Matengu (Thor: Love and Thunder), Manal El-Feitury (Hellboy), and Danica Davis (Endangered Species).

During the actual filming of Red Sonja, director M.J. Bassett (Reacher) posted a fantastic set photo on Instagram (See below) giving us a decent teaser of what the world of the fantasy action film will look like. Showcasing the fantastic production design from Clint Wallace, Marvel fans might recognize the name as he’s tackled additional photography for a handful of recent MCU movies.

Now deep into the post-production stage, we’re still waiting on an official release date for Red Sonja.

Posted on in Features

Netflix Should Offer Zack Snyder Their ‘Conan The Barbarian’ Reboot

It was recently suggested by WarnerMedia Studios CEO Ann Sarnoff in an interview with Variety that they don’t have plans to continue or restore the Snyderverse. Which means that Zack Snyder is finally free to make all the wacky film ideas he’s been cooking up over the last decade. He’s talked about making action film about George Washington and taking a crack at the Arthurian legend.

What’s interesting is that he’s now established a working relationship with streaming giant Netflix with his upcoming action-horror flick Army of The Dead, that is coming out on May 21, 2021.

This could mean that Snyder and Netflix will continue working on stuff in the future potentially leading to an over-all development deal at some point.

There is a newly acquired IP at the streamer that feels tailor-made for the filmmaker. As Netflix got their hands on the film and television rights to Robert E. Howard’s sword and sorcery hero Conan The Barbarian last year. The character has multiple stories written by Howard and other writers that continued Conan’s adventures over the decades including folks like Wheel of Time’s Robert Jordan.

In my opinion, there is really only one solid live-action adaptation and that is the fantastic John Milius movie from 1982 that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Earl Jones. The film got made thanks in part to the books popularity in the 1970’s and the string of comic books that were published by Marvel Comics.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982) – Orphaned boy Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is enslaved after his village is destroyed by the forces of vicious necromancer Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones), and is compelled to push “The Wheel of Pain” for many years. Once he reaches adulthood, Conan sets off across the prehistoric landscape of the Hyborian Age in search of the man who killed his family and stole his father’s sword. With beautiful warrior Valeria (Sandahl Bergman) and archer Subotai (Gerry Lopez), he faces a supernatural evil.

I have to assume given Zack’s obsession with John Boorman’s Excalibur that something like Conan The Barbarian might also be a fantasy film that resonates with him and could be an established IP that Netflix could offer Snyder.

We’ve seen with 300 that Zack could bring something visually interesting to a mature fantasy adventure epic like Conan The Barbarian. At it’s core, the 300 comic from Frank Miller and the Zack Snyder film owes a lot to things like Conan.

The world of Conan can be a blank canvas for someone like Snyder to develop something into his own and Netflix isn’t likely going to micromanage because box office isn’t even a factor with their originals as streaming is a complete different. You can tell with his DC stuff that he’s itching to tackle something like this.

The less said about Jason Momoa’s 2011 Conan reboot the better. Since then, the actor has developed a more charismatic on-screen persona with stuff like Game of Thrones and taking on the Aquaman role. I wouldn’t be opposed to giving Jason another shot at playing Conan given that he’s grown as an actor and has an existing relationship with Snyder.

Anyways, I’m hopefully that Netflix’s interest with expanding Snyder’s Army of The Dead into their own franchise means that they’ll at least consider him for other stuff like Conan The Barbarian as it feels like it could be a good fit for him.

Posted on in Film News

Jason Momoa Wanted Gail Simone To Write A Treatment For A ‘Conan’ & ‘Red Sonja’ Crossover Movie

Comic book writer Gail Simone (Red Sonja, Deadpool, Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman, Domino) has taken to Twitter to reveal that Conan The Barbarian actor Jason Momoa (Aquaman, Game of Thrones) once wanted her to write a treatment for a potential crossover film featuring Jason’s Conan and Rose McGowan’s Red Sonja. The project never actually written but seemed kind of interesting since there were plans for a new Red Sonja film before the Conan reboot was released.

The film rights to both Conan and Red Sonja had been acquired by the same production company Millennium Films (formerly known as Nu Image) around this time, in theory, a crossover could have happened.

At the time, Rose was attached to the Red Sonja reboot with Robert Rodriguez set produce, the project had been promoted at San Diego Comic-Con 2008 with mock-up posters/teaser images. She had recently worked with Robert on the his Grindhouse installment Planet Terror playing the film’s leading heroine Cherry Darling. It played in theaters as a double-feature with Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, which also featured Rose in the small supporting role of Pam. McGowan ended up with a role in 2011’s Conan The Barbarian playing a witch villain named Marique in heavy special effects makeup.

SIMONE: “Jason Momoa wanted me to write a Conan/Red Sonja treatment for a movie crossover featuring him as Conan and Rose McGowan as Sonja. Nothing came of it, but it would have been a blast to do. He pitched me the whole idea while we were in a van through a city in New Zealand (can’t remember which). He’s just a very enthusiastic, lovely guy and I liked him immediately.”

Conan The Barbarian didn’t connect with audiences, so there was never sequel made and Jason Momoa eventually landed his supporting part as Khal Drogo in HBO’s hit fantasy series Game of Thrones. That success on television led to him landing the Aquaman role in Warner Bros’ DC Comics franchise. More recently, Netflix has acquired the rights to Robert E. Howard’s Conan allowing them to make films, television shows, and animated projects.

Robert Rodriguez’s incarnation of Red Sonja never actually came together as the filmmaker instead pivoted to producing 20th Century Fox’s Predators and other subsequent things like taking over directing duties on James Cameron’s Alita: Battle Angel. A newer version of Red Sonja had Millennium Films hire disgraced X-Men franchise director Bryan Singer before he was ultimately replaced with Transparent’s Jill Soloway in the summer of 2019. However, it’s been a couple of years since Jill’s announcement and unclear if it will ever get made.

SOURCE: GAIL SIMONE

Posted on in Television News

Netflix Developing New ‘Conan The Barbarian’ Series – Based On The Sword and Sorcery Hero From Robert E. Howard

Deadline reports that a new series version of Conan The Barbarian based on the classic Robert E. Howard sword and sorcery hero is in development at Netflix. They also point out that Netflix can make new movies as well.

Netflix has put in development an epic live-action series based on Conan, the iconic sword-and-sorcery character created by writer Robert E. Howard, I have learned. I hear the project, from Fredrik Malmberg and Mark Wheeler’s Pathfinder Media, is the first in a deal between Netflix and Conan Properties International, owned by Malmberg’s Cabinet Entertainment. The pact gives Netflix the exclusive option to acquire rights to the Conan literary library and develop works across TV and film, both live-action and animated.

A feature film titled The Legend of Conan was in the works with Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising the role and later on a reboot series at Amazon had been in development before it was killed.

Schwarzenegger made the role famous in Conan The Barbarian and the sub-par sequel Conan The Destroyer. A series titled Conan The Adventurer starring Gladiator actor Ralf Möller had been made before Jason Momoa took a crack at the character in the 2011 remake of Conan The Barbarian.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN – Orphaned boy Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is enslaved after his village is destroyed by the forces of vicious necromancer Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones), and is compelled to push “The Wheel of Pain” for many years. Once he reaches adulthood, Conan sets off across the prehistoric landscape of the Hyborian Age in search of the man who killed his family and stole his father’s sword. With beautiful warrior Valeria (Sandahl Bergman) and archer Subotai (Gerry Lopez), he faces a supernatural evil.

A Conan The Barbarian series would fit nicely among The Witcher series, a string of Polish fantasy novels that owe a lot to Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories. Netflix being the home of the series should allow all the sex and violence that the franchise is known for.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

Arnold Schwarzenegger Returns To The Spy Genre For Original Skydance Television Series – ‘True Lies’ Series At Disney+ Not Happening?

Arnold Schwarzenegger is finally making his television debut!

Deadline reports that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Skydance Television are teaming for an original father-daughter spy adventure series from Scorpion creator Nick Santora. 

They also mention that the project will be out to streamers soon but I think it’s obvious we’ll they’ll be taking it. 

I would bet heavily that the series would end up landing on Amazon Prime Video or Netflix, given that Skydance has an existing relationship with Amazon for their Jack Ryan and Jack Reacher shows and multiple high-budgeted Skydance Media films have landed at Netflix. 

I’m leaning towards Amazon as Santora is the showrunner and executive producer of their upcoming Jack Reacher series. 

Arnold has previously worked with Skydance on the two soft-reboots of the Terminator franchise with Terminator: Genisys and Terminator: Dark Fate, both had trouble earning money at the box office. 

You might remember that producer/director McG (Lethal Weapon, Terminator: Salvation, Charlie’s Angels) teased to Collider a while back he was developing a series based on James Cameron’s True Lies series, pitching with the aim for it to land at Disney+ that may have seen Arnold and Jamie Lee Curtis potentially reprising their roles. 

This news might confirm that True Lies won’t be happening.

Schwarzenegger had been trying for years to get a direct sequel to Conan The Barbarian titled The Legend of King Conan, but hasn’t had much luck getting to the production stage as Universal Pictures has seemingly dropped those plans. 

In 2018, it was reported by Deadline that a Conan The Barbarian series was in the works at Amazon. I’m curious if this spy series lands at Amazon that it would help establish a relationship that leads to Arnold reprising the Conan role. Amazon also is currently in production on shows set in the fantasy worlds of Lord of The Rings and The Wheel of Time. 

SOURCE: DEADLINE