Lionsgate get CONAN

Variety have announced that Lionsgate have picked up the North American distribution rights to the feature. Just like the new TERMINATOR series, this new Arnie-less franchise has been the subject of much speculation recently with John McTiernan (DIE HARD) and Xavier Gens (HITMAN) rumored to be wanted by Nu Image/Millennium Films to direct the adventure epic and the 300 head Spartan Gerard Butler favourite to star. All of this is just rumor at this point. All we know for 100% sure is that the script comes from the writing team behind the 2005 adventure movie SAHARA with production currently halted because the script wasn't locked in time to beat the writer's strike. However with Interim deals now for the Weinsteins and U.A, Nu Image/Millennium co-founder Avi Lerner is currently negotiating his own package with the WGA, which if successful would solve that problem immediately. This CONAN project is a big deal for the company and with a budget expected to be no less than $100 million, it's easily their most ambitious project to date. Nu Image/Millennium who bought the rights to the Robert E. Howard character from Warner Brothers in August have moved swiftly to get this project off the ground and even though no director/crew have signed on, the company did release a teaser poster for us a few months back, very reminiscent of a certain WWE wrestler...