The Legend Of Conan Is No More
David Gelmini
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The Legend of Conan, which would have been the third film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Robert E. Howard’s musclebound Barbarian hero, has been in development hell for many years, although it now looks like it definitely won’t be happening.
Chris Morgan, who was set to produce, said the following to Entertainment Weekly:
Not so much. That’s kind of a longer story. At the end of the day, the studio decided that they weren’t gonna make that. I gotta say, it’s honestly a heartbreak. I love that first movie so much, so much, it’s one of my favorite movies. We had Will Beall do a draft on [the Legend of Conan script]. He killed it. Our take was Conan, 30 years later, a story like the Clint Eastwood Unforgiven. It was so awesome. Ultimately, the budget was big, the studio was not really sure of the title, and the relevance in the marketplace. They ended up letting it go. I think they’re gonna look to do a TV show or something with it. But just to be associated with it, pitch it to Arnold, have him get so excited, there was a moment of magic for me, personally [laughs]. You never know, down the road we may revisit!
Since his acting comeback with 2013’s The Last Stand, the box office returns of films headlined by Schwarzenegger have been nothing to write home about, so clearly he’s status as a major bankable star. The Legend of Conan would have been one hell of an expensive movie to make, and once you take into account the fact that Schwarzenegger can no longer pull in huge crowds like he used to, it sadly seemed like a logical decision not to go ahead with the project. The fact that the 2011 Conan the Barbarian movie only earned a disastrous worldwide total of $48,795,021 against a budget of $90 million also goes to show that the franchise has little appeal to general moviegoers.
I don’t know about you, but this news already has me reaching for the tissues. Although Morgan hinted that there may be a TV show featuring Schwarzenegger returning in the role that made him a star, so Conan may get to crush his enemies after all.
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