It's been thirty years since we last saw Arnold Schwarzenegger's Conan crush his enemies, and that was in 1985's Red Sonja starring Brigitte Nielsen. That film was an expansion of the Conan universe created by author Robert E. Howard, and first brought to the big screen in 1982's Conan the Barbarian. With a new sequel in The Legend of Conan gearing up to shoot soon with Schwarzenegger back as the barbarian king, we may be seeing the creation of a new cinematic universe centered on Howard's many properties.
According to Deadline, 'Conan' producer Frederik Malmberg has picked up the rights to the hundreds of characters Howard created. That would include some characters who have already been in feature films, like Solomon Kane , Kull the Conqueror, and the upcoming Bran Mak Morn. It also would also seemingly include Red Sonja, but there are still some questions about that one since the version of her we are familiar with was created by comics legends Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith. It's unclear how all of this affects the forever-developing Red Sonja film once eyed by Robert Rodriguez. Only a couple of months ago a new screenwriter was hired to make that film finally happen.
And if you had any doubt that Malmberg plans on creating a connected universe with Howard's characters, he even mentions Marvel's success when talking about the deal...
“These days it comes down to brands and characters and we are looking at long term possibilities. We look at how Marvel played out with its rich based of characters, and this too is a universe that lends itself to exploitation in TV and film. There aren’t many libraries like this.”
Malmberg was also a producer on the failed Jason Momoa-led Conan the Barbarian reboot in 2011, and obviously he's not looking to make that kind of mistake again. But is there enough interest for an entire Conan franchise, even with Schwarzenegger? By Crom, we'll have to wait and see.
