Conan the Barbarian

Paradox EntertainmentDistributed byLionsgateRelease date(s)August 19, 2011 (2011-08-19)Running time112 minutes [2]CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishConan the Barbarian (previously titled Conan 3D)^[1] is an upcoming 3-D sword and sorcery film based on the character Conan the Barbarian created by Robert E. Howard. The film is a new interpretation of the Conan mythology, and is not related to the films featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger. It stars Jason Momoa in the titular role, alongside Rose McGowan, Stephen Lang, Ron Perlman, Bob Sapp and Rachel Nichols, with Marcus Nispel directing.

The film had spent seven years in development at Warner Bros.. before the rights were shifted to Nu Image/Millennium Films in 2007, with a clause wishing for immediate start on production. Lionsgate and Sony Pictures entered negotiations for distribution, with the film seeing many directors, prominently Brett Ratner, before settling on Nispel in 2009 and has since brought together a cast and crew. Filming began on March 15, 2010 and concluded on June 5, 2010. The film will be first released in France and Belgium on August 17, 2011^[2]^[3] and then in the United States, Canada and Spain on August 19,^[4] Switzerland on August 21^[5] and the United Kingdom on August 26.^[6]

Plot synopsis

^{After his father is murdered and village destroyed, Conan ventures into an unforgiving world where he survives as a thief, pirate, and warrior. On his path of wanton adventure and women, Conan chances upon the warlord responsible for his tribe's destruction. As he tracks Khalar Zym, Conan battles monsters, Zym's henchmen, and Marique, a powerful witch.}

^Cast

^{Jason Momoa}^as^Conan
- ^{Leo Howard}^{as Young Conan}
[*]^{Rachel Nichols}^{as Tamara: A beautiful and studious novitiate of a monastery trained to be the Queen’s servant, bodyguard and best friend, Conan's love interest.}
[*]^{Stephen Lang}^{as Khalar Zym: A ruthless empire-building warlord. The character was originally going to be called Khalar Singh}^[7]
[*]^{Rose McGowan}^{as Marique: Khalar Zym's daughter and a powerful witch.}
[*]^{Bob Sapp}^{as Ukafa: Leader of Kushite Tribemen from the savannahs of Kush. Khalar Zym's lieutenant; he is "jealous that Zym’s daughter, Marigue, will one day be warlord. He obeys his leader but plots the overthrow of his daughter.}
[*]^{Steven O'Donnell}^{as Lucius: Leader of Khalar Zym's "Legion of Aquilonian Mercenaries" he is disfigured in an early fight with Conan.}
[*]^{Diana Lubenova as Cheren: A blind archer who leads a similar band of blind archers in Khalar Zym's mercenary army.}
[*]^{Ron Perlman}^{as Corin: A blacksmith, a leader of the Cimmerians and Conan's father.}
[*]^{Nonso Anozie}^{as Artus: A Zamoran pirate and friend of Conan.}
[*]^{Saïd Taghmaoui}^{as Ela-Shan}
[*]^{Milton Welsh as Remo: A "mysterious warrior of dark magic."}
[*]^{Raad Rawi as Fassir: An "elder monk and leader of the monastery charged with the care and education of the queen, Ilira."}

^{Some characters have no known cast yet but were revealed in released casting information.}^[8]^{Of those characters two of them include Ilira who is Queen of Acheron and is captured by Khalar Zym, and Conan's mother Islene.}

^Production

^Development

^{There had been talk in the late 1990s of a second}^Conan^{sequel following}^{Conan the Destroyer}^{, about an older Conan, set to be titled}^{King Conan: Crown of Iron}^{; however, due to Arnold Schwarzenegger's election in 2003 as governor of}^California^{, this project came to an end.}^[9]

^{Warner Bros.}.^{spent 7 years trying to get the project off the ground, with development attempts made by}^{Larry and Andy Wachowski}^,^{John Milius}^{, and}^{Robert Rodriguez}^{who was closest to completing development but left the project for}^Grindhouse^.^{Boaz Yakin}^{was hired in 2006 to start again, however, in June 2007 the rights reverted to}^{Paradox Entertainment}^{, though all drafts made under Warner remained with them. Paradox's}^CEO^{, Fredrik Malmberg, told}^Variety^{"we have great respect for Warner Bros., but after seven years, we came to the point where we needed to see progress to production." Paradox were auctioning the rights after and various groups took interest in producing, including}^{New Line Cinema}^,^{Hollywod Gang}^{, and}^{Millennium Films}^.^[10]

^{Due to development-time frustrations felt when the rights were with Warner, Malmberg made deal terms where he was asking for $1 million for a one-year option, with another $1 million for each year's renewal. In August 2007, it was announced that Millennium had acquired the right to the project in a unrevealed seven-figure deal, with Malmberg and Millennium's}^{Avi Lerner}^,^{Boaz Davidson}^,^{Joe Gatta}^{, and}^{George Furla}^{set to}^produce^{. The deal was brokered by Gatta, who originally made the deal between Paradox and Warner in 2002. Production was aimed for a Spring 2006 start, with intention of having stories more faithful to the}^{Robert E. Howard}^creation.^[11]

^{After the partnership on}^Rambo^,^{Nu Image Films}^{, Millennium and}^Lionsgate^{partnered on this film due to the strength of that relationship, and the happiness by Millennium producers with the handling of}^Rambo^{. Lionsgate were announced to be handling}^{North America}^{'s distribution in January 2008. At this point,}^{Thomas Dean Donnelly}^and^{Joshua Oppenheimer}^{had been courted to write the script. Nu Image/Millennium founders Lerner and}^{Danny Dimbort}^{were set to fully finance the film at an estimated $100 million.}^[12]^{With a brief effort of developing}^{Red Sonja}^with^{Rose McGowan}^{as the lead,}^{Robert Rodriguez}^{had mentioned in July 2008 he had been in discussions to produce}^Conan^also.^[13]^{Dirk Blackman}^and^{Howard McCain}^{were announced in August to have been hired for a re-write of the script, with the intention of returning to the original source material and in the desire of making an}^R-rated^film.^[14]

^{In November 2008,}^{Brett Ratner}^{was prematurely announced to be the director of}^Conan^to^{The Hollywood Reporter}^{by Lerner, something which displeased him as he pointed out "I am not doing}^Conan^{now. This is totally premature. For now,}^Conan^{is only a development deal. I have a deal at}^Paramount^{and I'm doing}^{Beverly Hills Cop [iV]}^{first, no matter what. Avi shouldn't be telling you or anyone else in the press what I'm doing."}^[15][16]^{However, Gatta revealed in May 2009 that after 6 months of discussions on developing the film, Ratner was off the project due to the busyness of Ratner's schedule. Regardless, Gatta was hopeful of still meeting the intention of Millennium to start filming on August 24 in Bulgaria.}^[17]^{June 2009 revealed}^{Marcus Nispel}^{would take the reins as director to the film.}^[18]^{Sean Hood}^{was announced in February 2010 to be rewriting the script once more for the producers.}^[19]

^Casting

^{In January 2010,}^{Jason Momoa}^{was selected for the role of Conan.}^[20]^{Momoa beat}^{Kellan Lutz}^{for the role. He was enrolled in an intense six-week training program at a stunt and martial arts academy in Los Angeles for his part, while still finalizing negotiations for the film. Momoa intends to add 10 pounds of muscle to his 215 pound frame, with the help of}^{The Bourne Ultimatum}^'s^{stunt performer}^{David Leitch}^{, and the martial arts stunt coordinator for}^{The Matrix Reloaded}^and^{The Matrix Revolutions}^,^{Chad Stahelski}^.^[21]

^{Leo Howard}^{was revealed to be portraying the younger Conan in the film. The youth of Conan will be shown for the length of the first 15 minutes of the film.}^[22]

^{The casting call for Conan's father, Corin, reveals the character to be "powerfully built, intelligent, graceful, master swordsman, skilled blacksmith, de facto leader of Cimmerians and Conan's father. He resolves to answer the terrible request of his dying wife and cuts Conan out of her so she can see him. He then shoulders the burden of raising Conan, which proves to be daunting given the boy's savage nature. Corin teaches his son the meaning of the sword: a hot blade must be cooled and tempered. When Khalar finally corners him and tortures him to death, he shows no regret nor pain, hiding his concern for his son's safety from the eyes of the enemy."}^[23]^{Mickey Rourke}^{first entered negotiations. Originally talks had happened before but after a period of no talk, offers were returned to Rourke in February 2010.}^[24]^{Rourke had however left the project for a second time, in apparent favour of the}^{Dawn of War}^film.^{Ron Perlman}^{took on the character in March 2010.}^[25][26]

^{Bob Sapp}^{portrays Ukafa, "a leader of Kushite Tribemen from the savannahs of Kush. Ukafa is Khalar Zym’s second in command, jealous that Zym’s daughter, Marique, will one day be warlord. He obeys his leader but plots the overthrow of his daughter. He is a mighty warrior and unbeatable in battle…quot;until he meets Conan."}^[27]

^{Rachel Nichols}^{joined the cast as Tamara, described as "the Queen’s servant, bodyguard and best friend. She and many other female bodyguards to the queen have been in hiding most of their lives because of the curse of Acheron, which would take the queen’s life to bring almost immortal power to its king. When Khalar Zym, a powerful warlord with ambitions to become the king of Acheron, storms the monastery and captures all of the novitiates, she is separated from Ilira, the one she must protect. With all of her strength and will, Tamara is determined to find and rescue her. She finds herself in league with Conan because of a mutual need to find Khalar Zym. She is not in the least intimidated by Conan’s size or grim demeanor and their alliance eventually blossoms into something that surprises them both."}^[28]

^{Stephen Lang}^{will play Khalar Zym, described to be "commanding in size and manner, a warlord and formidable warrior, brilliant, cruel, weathered and tanned by the many campaigns he has waged and won. He is driven in his quest to find the Queen of Acheron and has been building an empire to do so."}^[29]

^{Dolph Lundgren}^{had spoken to the producers in November 2009 for an unspecified role.}^[30]

^Variety^{announced on March 2010 that}^{Rose McGowan}^{would also star as an "an evil half-human/half-witch".}^[31]^{She will play the daughter of Stephen Lang's character, Khalar Zym called Marique. Although originally written as a male character called Fariq, McGowan impressed the producers with her take of the role, therefore slightly re-writing her character to be female.}

^Filming

^{Filming was first hoped to be started in Spring 2008. Nothing was set until Ratner came on board. Filming had a set date for August 24, 2008, in Bulgaria. Ratner however departed in May that year, and the start-date for filming was pushed back, with South Africa being revealed as another filming destination.}^[18]^{Filming finally began, in Bulgaria, on March 15, 2010.}^[31]

^{The Bulgaria shooting locations are}^{Nu Boyana Film}^Studios,^Bolata^,^{Pobiti Kamani}^,^{Bistritsa, Sofia}^,^{Zlatnite Mostove}^,^Pernik^and^Vitosha^.^[32]^[33]

^{The film will have a 3-D conversion in post production.}^[34]

^Release

^{Conan the Barbarian}^{will be first released in}^France^,^Belgium^{and the}^Philippines^{on August 17, 2011 and then in}^Australia^and^Italy^{(August 18),}^USA^,^Canada^and^Spain^{(August 19),}^Switzerland^{(August 21) and the}^{United Kingdom}^{(August 26)}

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE · August 11, 2011

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE · August 11, 2011

Sweet Lu · August 11, 2011

this is one me and jenni are seeing together. she is all excited

Mirror's Venus · August 17, 2011

I'M SO EXCITED FOR THIS!

Sweet Lu · September 9, 2011

i was excited, than i aw it

IT SUCKS!!!!!!!!

i didn't even finish watching it, it was THAT bad

Lyle134 · April 23, 2012

I thought it was okay I really enjoyed watching it.

Sign In

Conan the Barbarian

Recommended Posts

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

Sweet Lu

Mirror's Venus

Sweet Lu

Lyle134

Join the conversation

Recently Browsing 0 members

Browse

Activity