Crom! Hither Came "Conan"

Sneak Peek actor Jason Momoa as the 'Cimmerian' barbarian 'Conan', surrounded by ale-house 'wenches', in a scene adapting author Robert E. Howard's "Conan", set during the 'Hyborian' age.

Directed by Marcus Nispel, the new "Conan" co-stars Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang, Bob Sapp, Leo Howard, Ron Perlman, Said Taghmaoui and Rose McGowan.

"Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet..."

"Conan" started shooting mid-March, based on a screenplay by Joshua"Sahara"Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean "Cowboys & Aliens" Donnelly, closely adhering to Howard's shadowy "Weird Tales" pulp magagzine stories from the 1930's.

Joe Gatta and Avi Lerner of Millennium Films are producing "Conan" along with Paradox Entertainment president/CEO Fredrik Malmberg, rights holder of the Robert E. Howard estate.

Millennium is eyeing a potential franchise for the R-rated $85 million sex/violence feature, lensing at Nu Image's Bulgarian Nu Boyana Studio and in South Africa.

"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," said producer Lerner.

Created by Howard in 1932,

'Conan the Cimmerian',

associated with the fantasy subgenre 'sword 'n sorcery', has since appeared in licensed books, comics, films, television programs and video games.

'Conan the Barbarian' is also the name of a Gnome Press collection of stories published in 1954, comics/magazines published by Marvel, Lancer paperback novels, feature films and a TV series.

Swedish company Paradox, legal owners of the entire REH estate, li

censed Dark Horse Comics to revive the character for new "Conan" comic books in 2004, as well as supervise the development of an online RPG "Age of Conan".

Nispel said the look of the film will reflect the fantasy paintings of iconic 'Conan' illustrator Frank Frazetta.

Over the years, several "Conan" stories have been written by authors Poul Anderson, Leonard Carpenter, Lin Carter, L. Sprague de Camp, Roland J. Green, John C. Hocking, Robert Jordan, Sean A. Moore, Björn Nyberg, Andrew J. Offutt, Steve Perry, John Maddox Roberts, Harry Turtledove and Karl Edward Wagner.

Some of these writers finished incomplete Conan manuscripts by Howard, or rewrote Howard stories which originally featured different characters. Most post-Howard Conan stories, however, are completely original works.

In total, more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories featuring the Conan character have been written by authors other than Howard.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Conan"...