Arnold Schwarzenegger is one busy actor. Right after reprising his role as the Terminator in "Terminator: Genisys," he will be moving on to a different project and reprise his role as Conan the Barbarian in the new movie "The Legend of Conan."
It has been over 30 years since Schwarzenegger starred in John Milius' "Conan the Barbarian" film, followed by the 1984 flick "Conan the Destroyer" and "Red Sonja" in 1985.
According to Deadline, "Legend of Conan" producer Frederik Malmberg, who also produced the 2011 reboot starring Jason Momoa, has acquired the rights to Howard's entire catalogue of characters, paying $7.5 million to take control of Paradox Entertainment.
"These days," Malmberg said, "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."
The project will be handled by Universal Pictures while screenplay will be penned by Chris Morgan and Andrea Berloff. Morgan even teased earlier that there would be "at least three" other characters from the original films that will be a part of their new adventure.
Some of the characters fans have become familiar with are Kull the Conqueror and Solomon Kane. Then there's Dark Agnes, Bran Mak Morn (which Universal is developing with Working Title), the Texas gunfighter El Borak, the Celtic warrior Cormac mac Airt, and so much more.
"We're very lucky that the architects of this new film - the writer, the producers, the studio and most of all, Arnold - who is Conan - are all first-generation fans who either worked on the film or who came along for the ride, cheering from their theater seats opening night," he said. "We plan nothing more than to immerse ourselves in the world Milius envisioned from Robert E. Howard's unforgettable stories and Frank Frazetta's stunning artwork... We are honoring the locales, the religions and the traditions of the '82 film."
Malmberg also compared the "The Legend of Conan" to Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven," saying that with Schwarzenegger's acting maturity, the next Conan film could be his version of the classic Eastwood film.
"It's 30 years after the original film, and he's facing his mortality and how a legend deals with the fact he's older, and how does he want to go out," Malmberg said.
