Ratner Begins Conan, Beverly Hills Cop IV on Hold

Posted by dominie in Films, News on November 8th, 2008

According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand, Rush Hour 3) has entered into final negotiations with Nu Image/Millennium and Lionsgate Films to direct Conan, the 21st century remake of Robert E. Howard’s original Conan the Barbarian.

The news is not a shocker. We reported that Ratner was circling the project back in October. The only question concerned a timeline for the project. Ratner had also been in talks to helm Paramount’s fourth installment of their Beverly Hills Cop franchise and his dilemma for weeks has been which project should be helmed first.

Since by the end of Friday, the script for Beverly Hills Cop was not ready yet, Ratner’s decision was made simple and BHC IV will have to wait.

Millennium and Lionsgate have their eyes on the project as a potential franchise. Learning from the PG-13 rated Conan the Destroyer jokier 1984 film that ruined the original franchise, writers Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly (Sahara, A Sound of Thunder, Airborn) are taking the projected in a very R-rated direction in the $85 million budget range. Filming will take place at Nu Image’s Nu Boyana Studio in Bulgaria.

“The story opens on the battlefield where Conan is born and tells the origin story that sets the stage for what will be the first of multiple films,” Avi Lerner of Millennium Films tells THR. “This is a coup for Millennium Films and proves that our choice of projects and material is attracting much higher-profile directors and actors.”