Brett Ratner has become something of an online fanboy nemesis since X-Men 3, which carried over into Rush Hour 3 and has since followed him as his name has been attached to everything from Beverly Hills Cop 4 to a Guitar Hero movie. One other project he has also been in line for is the remake of Conan at Millenium Films and according to The Hollywood Reporter he has decided to tackle the story of the barbarian as his next film.
The script by Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly apparently goes back to the the big brute’s origins as written by Robert E. Howard in the 1930s when he made his pulp debut in “The Phoenix on the Sword” focusing on a middle-aged Conan of Cimmeria attempting to govern the turbulent kingdom of Aquilonia (source). There is no word, however, on what the script will be about specifically, but Avi Lerner of Millennium Films told THR, “The story opens on the battlefield where Conan is born and tells the origin story that sets the stage for what will be the first of multiple films,.”
The plan is to turn it into a long-running R-rated franchise and pre-production is under way for a shoot at Nu Image’s Nu Boyana Studio in Bulgaria and an anticipated release in early 2010.
