Brett Ratner About Ready to Visit Conan’s Cimmeria

After expressing interest in directing everything from the an adaptation of Valiant’s Harbinger to a feature film based on Guitar Hero, director Brett Ratner has finally chosen his next projects.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rater is about to sign a deal to direct a new Conan the Barbarian film.  The film will be co-produced by Nu Image/Millennium and Lionsgate Films. Conan was the subject of two films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1980s and has been a frequent candidate for additional features ever since but the rights went from studio to studio with no traction.  John Milius, who cowrote the first film with Oliver Stone, has had a much admired King Conan script in development for years now.

Fans of Axel Foley can rest assured that the fourth film in the Beverly Hills Cop series is still likely to hit the cameras first for Paramount Pictures. Screenwriters Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (Wanted) have been working on a script as the studio tries to get everything lined up to meet the next hole in Eddie Murphy’s schedule.

Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly (Sahara) have written a screenplay that was intriguing enough to get Ratner to commit but now the duo is working on a polish based on Ratner’s notes.  The story is inspired by the original Weird Tales stories of Robert E. Howard and none of the pastiches and interpretations that have followed in prose and comic books. It’s said to be a tale that introduces audiences to who Conan is and sets the stage for the inevitable sequels.

Lionsgate intends to release the $85 million film in 2010 the same year Paramount hopes to release BHC 4.