With news trickling in about ‘The Legend of Conan,’ we just heard an exciting rumor of an ongoing set of Barbarian movies straight from the mouth of Swedish producer Fredrick Malmberg! It seems that when his company Cabinet Entertainment picked up the rights to Conan he actually picked up the rights to all of Robert E. Howard’s work. The idea may have initially just been to focus on the character who Arnold Schwarzenegger made famous but with the huge success Marvel has had with a Cinematic Universe, everyone wants to get in on the action. A fantasy world doing the same thing sounds like a great idea if you ask me.
According to Malmberg:
“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.”
To be specific this includes over 800 stories in total and there are 100s of major characters in the Conan Universe alone. This include characters such as Solomon Kane, Kull of Atlantis (or as you may know him, Kull the Conqueror), and Red Sonya (who inspired the more well known comic character Red Sonja.)
With DC Comics, Ghostbusters, and the Universal’s horror monsters all trying to do the same thing, this is an area ripe for overcrowding. That being said, Marvel is still making it work and no one else has ventured into the realm of fantasy quite yet. Both ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ have shown that there is a large interest in more high fantasy being readily available.
Now of all of this hinges on ‘The Legend of Conan’ being a smashing success at the box office, but the idea itself is sound.
What are your thoughts on a slew of new movies and a television show based in the world of Cimmeria? Share your thoughts below!
Source: Cinema Blend
