Crom! Is the Conan Movie Revived?

There might be a new Conan movie in theaters despite recent setbacks that had put the film's fate in doubt.

Fredrik Malmberg, head of Licensing and Creative Affairs for L.A.-based Conan Properties International, recently told Hollywood Reporter: "We're actively coordinating the same vision across all media," he says. "Conan is such a strong character, he's taken on his own life, like Tarzan or Holmes. He's the James Bond of fantasy. His world has an historic feel to it. It's fantasy, but it doesn't have elves or goblins. It doesn't have a British feel like Tolkien. It's more in the American fantasy tradition. We wanted to go back to the roots with the property. The original Howard stories read like movie scripts."

Malmberg said that after active courting from "a lot of top talent and studios," Conan Properties sold the movie rights back to Warner Bros. Warners production president Jeff Robinov says he’s waiting for a "Conan" script from an unnamed action writer-director and wants to produce the film within the next year.

"I love the character," says Robinov, who is going back to two of the original stories. "It all depends on how the character is realized and the execution of the movie. You hope to satisfy the fan base and the broader audience. There has always been a fan base for the Conan character. So many years have gone by. You have to get to the core of who the Conan character was. It's like catching mercury."

Original Conan director John Milius and the Wachowski brothers were trying to get the franchise revived recently and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s election to the California governorship took him out of the running for the lead. Fan talk once linked The Rock and Vin Diesel in the role of the barbarian's son with Schwarzenegger possibly playing King Conan, but that project never progressed.