39 replies to this topic

[terryallenuk]

Hope if /when Paradox have another go with a Conan film they make a better decision over who makes it!

Terry

Publicerad: 2012-06-05 08:11:09

CEST

Paradox Entertainment AB

Pressmeddelande

Conan film rights revert to Conan Properties

The option for sequel rights to the recent Conan film, held by Millennium

Films Inc., has not been exercised and the rights have now reverted back to

Conan Properties International LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary to Paradox

Entertainment Inc. The company is now looking at various opportunities going

forward.

About Conan

Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword

and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since

been adapted to books, comics, several films, television programs, video

games, roleplaying games and other media. The character was created by

writer Robert E. Howard in 1932 via a series of fantasy stories published in

Weird Tales magazine.

About Paradox Entertainment Inc.

Paradox Entertainment manages and develops its rights library by generating

revenue from all forms of entertainment, including motion picture,

television, gaming, publishing and toy industries. The Company’s library

consists of such well-known brands as Conan the Barbarian, Kull of Atlantis,

Solomon Kane, Mutant Chronicles, and the works of Robert E. Howard. Paradox

Entertainment also represents third-party property owners expanding their IP

into a variety of licensing categories. In addition, the company produces,

co-produces and co-finances motion pictures aimed at the global market. The

business is mainly carried out by Paradox Entertainment Inc., based in Los

Angeles, California, USA. The shares of parent company Paradox Entertainment

AB (PDXE, SE0000598054) are quoted on NASDAQ OMX, in the First North Premier

segment. Erik Penser Bankaktiebolag acts as Certified Adviser. Read more

about Paradox Entertainment on

http://www.paradoxent.com.

Fredrik Malmberg

President & CEO

Tel: +1 (323) 655-1700, Mob: +1 (310) 663-3214

E-mail:

fmalmberg@paradoxent.com

Joakim Zetterberg

Director of Licensing / Investor Relations

Tel: +1 (323) 655-1708, Mob: +1 (310) 623-2918

E-mail:

jzetterberg@paradoxent.com

This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com –

a NASDAQ OMX company

[MilkManX]

Ok Paradox.

This time will you hire a good writer and director? Oh and also get someone who knows REH to be a consultant...

Maybe just maybe you can re-lauch CONAN again.

[PaulMc]

Does this mean there is no requirement to reference the 1982 movie next time? (father's sword, etc)

[Tex]

Paradox should use as it's model the Mighty Marvel Movie Making MethodTM--get the property back in-house (done) so you can control how the films are made.

You have a lower Suck Factor with your movies that way.

Tex
(who never thought he'd be endorsing Marvel's way of doing ANYTHING)

[Kortoso]

Having their own studio would be a start.
"CPI Studios".
Taste it, cherish it.

[terryallenuk]

Perhaps some day Marvel Studios might make non-Marvel films , if so Conan would be an obvious choice IMO.

Terry

[wulfhere]

The idea of CPI doing something "in house" is good, but if they are looking for someone else to work with Spartacus is wrapping up after the next season. Maybe those guys would like to do a Conan series.

[Mark Finn]

My recommendation, for what it's worth (and keep in mind that Fred and the guys are all very smart, very capable people and have likely already thought of anything we can come up with on this thread) is to approach either HBO or Showtime and pitch a Conan series. The idea would be to keep it simple, lower the budget (because you don't need lots of CGI and stuff) and take a linear approach to the stories in the manner of, say, the comics. By utilizing the original stories in context, you could string together several of the short stories--and if you've seen any of my previous posts on the subject, you know what I'm about to say--and have the season culminate in Conan's first brush with civilization and subsequent escape to a life on the sea.

Start with Frost Giant's Daughter, and have the raiding party wander down into civilization, where they disband or are all caught except for Conan, who escapes. Tired and hungry, we now send him into The God in the Bowl. After that, he makes his way into the thieve's section and we do The Tower of the Elephant. At the end of that, he and Taurus (who survives in this version) go on a crime spree. The city magistrate is calling for his head. We see several encounters with the city guards as he and Taurus do well for themselves and thwart authority. They set up a nice pad, get girlfriends, and start thinking about a guild, or some aspects of the good life. Meanwhile, the noose is tightening around them. First Taurus is captured, and then he escapes. He contacts Conan and tells him to beat it. Conan goes back to his apartment and finds his girl in the arms of a member of the city guard. He drops her into a cesspool and guess what? We're in Rogues in the House, now. After that wraps up, there's another bridging sequence that brings us to the intro of Queen of the Black Coast. And that's the first season. Conan, still a youth, but now wise to the ways of civilized men, embarks on a career as a pirate.

Season two would be all of the Conan pirate stories with maybe some of the villains from Beyond the Black river as rivals. It ends with the Black Coast story, and Conan, in his grief, disappears into the wilderness.

Season three finds Conan, still grieving the loss of Belit, now a mercenary. Now we can do the Devil in Iron and all of those stories.

See, the progression doesn't have to be 100 percent accurate, and details can even be moved around. The idea is to present the stories and the character in a way that makes sense, and show that at the end of each season, Conan grows and learns and changes to meet this new situation. On the pirate ship, he learns how to lead wild men, and he also learns to harden his heart. So that when he becomes a mercenary, he's all crafty and steely and stuff.

I'm on cough medicine, so this may not make any sense, but I think something like that--literally starting out with the raid in The Frost Giants Daughter--and moving forward, would be a great hook and the mini-series format makes it easy to tell the stories without feeling rushed or that certain elements can't also be included.

Paradox has my number, if they ever need an outside consultant. Personally, I'm hoping for a call regarding Sailor Steve Costigan any day now...

[Ironhand]

Hey, Mark, Paradox should hire you and feed you cough medicine every day.

[droc]

Hey, Mark, Paradox should hire you and feed you cough medicine every day.

LOL, good plan. I remember someone making a good argument for hallucinogenic drugs being the source of good music, perhaps cough medicine is the way forward for TV/Movies.

DROC

[Kortoso]

As far as I can tell, the ownership of the rights began with CPI, and were transferred to Millenium for the purposes of making the 2010 film Conan the Barbarian. Now that the film is finished in all its phases, it makes sense that the rights go back to CPI.
This really doesn't tell us that much.
It may be a sign that the sequel is not being considered, or that if there is a sequel, CPI has the option of choosing another studio.

[wulfhere]

As far as I can tell, the ownership of the rights began with CPI, and were transferred to Millenium for the purposes of making the 2010 film Conan the Barbarian. Now that the film is finished in all its phases, it makes sense that the rights go back to CPI.
This really doesn't tell us that much.
It may be a sign that the sequel is not being considered, or that if there is a sequel, CPI has the option of choosing another studio.

I think it is not a "sign that the sequel is not being considered", as much as it is a definite statement that a sequel is not happening.

[Mark Finn]

Eh, never say never. People have short memories. And I'm sure that Paradox hasn't given up on Conan. It may be time to cool things off a bit, but let's face it, Conan is the engine that drives the rest of REH properties.

Whether we get a sequel, or a new series, or what-have-you, I think we can all agree: Keep Jason Momoa. He's got the chops, the physicality, and the presence to play Conan.

[wulfhere]

Eh, never say never. People have short memories. And I'm sure that Paradox hasn't given up on Conan. It may be time to cool things off a bit, but let's face it, Conan is the engine that drives the rest of REH properties.

Whether we get a sequel, or a new series, or what-have-you, I think we can all agree: Keep Jason Momoa. He's got the chops, the physicality, and the presence to play Conan.

I don't dismiss the chance of another Conan movie, or TV series, I just think it's clear that Millenium doesn't want to do a sequel and I can't see anyone going to Millenium to get the rights to do a direct sequel to their movie. I'd love to see something more faithful, preferably a series rather than a movie, and I think it would be great if they got Jason to play Conan.

[Ironhand]

As long as there is no homage, or reference, to the plots of either of the two movies.

[norse_sage]

We already knew it, but that was the official final nail in the coffin.
The sequel to "Conan the Barbarian" (2011) is now dead, beyond rescue.
All contracts with all key players are null and void, including Momoa. He is finished as Conan and will never return to the role no matter what happens, move on.

Paradox are free to take the rights to someone else, but the problem is wether anyone wants them. I very much doubt that. The 2011 poisoned the well, and it did so thorughly. It failed spectacurlarly in a very visible way, no studio exec in his right mind will want to touch Conan now, especially not after the even bigger flop of John Carter. Any discussion is purely hypotehtical at this point, Paradox killed their golden goose the moment they signed creative control of to Millennium.

Conan in live action, wether film or TV, is done for the foreseeable future.
These are dark days.

Edited by norse_sage, 07 June 2012 - 01:20 PM.

[Mark Finn]

No it isn't.

No they didn't.

No it's not.

As someone who lived through the 80s and 90s, you'd have to do much much more to the Conan brand to "poison the well" and "Kill the goose."

If a Saturday morning cartoon and a lamentable Xena-styled live action syndicated series couldn't kill Conan's popularity, then there is no way in Hell that the Momoa film did even a fraction of the damage to the brand.

"Dark days?" Please.

[cromsguts]

No it isn't.

No they didn't.

No it's not.

As someone who lived through the 80s and 90s, you'd have to do much much more to the Conan brand to "poison the well" and "Kill the goose."

If a Saturday morning cartoon and a lamentable Xena-styled live action syndicated series couldn't kill Conan's popularity, then there is no way in Hell that the Momoa film did even a fraction of the damage to the brand.

"Dark days?" Please.

AGREED.

[norse_sage]

I pray you are right Mark Finn, because liveactionwise, I would like nothing more than to see Conan done right.
(I want that even more so than I want to see Steve Costigan in live action, and I want that pretty badly too).

Sadly, given the uphill struggle Paradox had to get the 2011 movie made in the first place, even when the brand was in the process of being repositioned and re-invogorated by the Dark Horse comic, the Del Rey's and Age of Conan... I am rather negative about their prospects of getting another live action Conan off the ground now that the 2011 bellyflopped so badly.

[Ascalante]

I'm relieved the potential for a Conan film will have to take a new direction, even though it could be delayed for some time.

If I had the rights to make a Conan movie I would start with a blank slate. I would take this approach:

What is it that makes Howard's writing so captivating?
Why do I read his stories repeatedly and I am still fascinated by them?
How can I translate that to film?

These are hard questions to answer, but this needs to be done before any thought of making a movie takes place.

It is difficult to capture the essence of a book and translate it to film, but even if you fall short of achieving Howard's brilliance you could still end up with a good movie and know you stuck to what works, which's Howard's writing.

If you can succeed with that approach, chances are the movie will be good