Fredrik Malmberg, the CEO of Paradox Entertainment, a company that currently holds the rights to the “Conan the Barbarian” franchise (originally created by pulp author Robert E. Howard), claims that the new ‘Conan’ movie, which is slated to star Arnold Schwarzenegger in the iconic role he made famous back in 1982, will actually/hopefully be the first part of a new trilogy. Good lord that’s a lot of Conan!
“We have a great story,” Malmberg told The Arnold Fans (via Total Film). “Everyone loves it. This is a role that’s perfect for [Arnold] and he’s very involved with the whole Universal team. It’s the best team they have. Arnold has been very instrumental to bringing this together saying, ‘We gotta make a good Conan!’”
Apparently the new film will disregard both the sequel, “Conan the Destroyer,” which also starred Schwarzenegger, and 2011’s abysmal remake. What it can’t disregard, of course, is the franchise-hungry movie-making climate (keep in mind Universal, home to the endless “Fast and Furious” series, is behind the sequel). “I think if we do this right, we can do two more Conan movies right after,” Malmberg continued. “I think ‘Game Of Thrones‘ also shows a huge interest in fantasy. I’m psyched about it.”
Malmberg also revealed a little bit about the movie’s plot, which under the title “The Legend of Conan” and is being written by “Fast and Furious” mainstay Chris Morgan: “The idea is that this takes place after Conan has been king. But this is the legend of Conan where he has been gone and people say, ‘Do you remember the good ol’ days when Conan was around?’ And now it’s time for him to come back.” He also claimed that they would not be going with an “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” approach and try to pass the franchise off to a younger actor (“This is Arnold’s movie!”) and said that the movie would most likely feature more of Basil Poledouris‘ unforgettable score, after an hour of unused material was recently discovered.
While a lot of Malmberg’s claims sound like the overexcited ravings of a hype man trying to generate excitement for his project, there are enough specifics to think that it is probably a go movie. But what about a go trilogy? Is anyone really that excited about future Conan adventures? Or is one just enough nostalgia?