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Conan the Barbarian (2011 film)

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Conan the Barbarian
Theatrical poster
Directed byMarcus Nispel
Written byThomas Dean Donnelly
Joshua Oppenheimer
Sean Hood
Produced byFredrik Malmberg
Avi Lerner
Boaz Davidson
Joe Gatta
George Furla
John Baldecchi
Les Weldon
StarringJason Momoa
Rachel Nichols
Stephen Lang
Rose McGowan
Saïd Taghmaoui
Leo Howard
Bob Sapp
Ron Perlman
Narrated byMorgan Freeman[1]
CinematographyThomas Kloss
Edited byKen Blackwell
Music byTyler Bates
Production
companies
Distributed byLionsgate
Release date
  • August 19, 2011 (2011-08-19)
Running time
112 minutes [2]
CountryTemplate:Film US
LanguageEnglish
Budget$90 million[3]
Box office$22,076,000[4]

Conan the Barbarian is a 3-D sword and sorcery film based on the character Conan the Barbarian created by Robert E. Howard. The film, shot in 2010 and released in 2011, is a new interpretation of the Conan mythology, and is not related to the films featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger. It stars Jason Momoa in the titular role, alongside Rachel Nichols, Rose McGowan, Stephen Lang, Ron Perlman, and Bob Sapp with Marcus Nispel directing.

The film had spent seven years in development at Warner Bros. before the rights were shifted to Nu Image/Millennium Films in 2007, with a clause wishing for immediate start on production. Lionsgate and Sony Pictures entered negotiations for distribution, with the film seeing many directors, prominently Brett Ratner, before settling on Nispel in 2009 and subsequently bringing together a cast and crew. Filming began on March 15, 2010 and concluded on June 5, 2010. The film was first released on August 17, 2011 in four countries: France, Belgium, Iceland and the Philippines.[5][6][7] For later releases, in other countries, see below.

Plot synopsis

During the Hyborean Age, a group of sorcerers from Acheron created a mask from the skulls of dead kings and sacrificed their pure blood daughters to the dark gods in order to give the mask the power to subjugate the entire world. After killing countless people in their crusade to conquer the planet, the sorcerers were defeated by the barbarians led by Corin (Ron Perlman), who destroys the mask, scattering the pieces across the land, and keeping one for himself. Shortly thereafter, in a battle against a rival tribe, Corin's wife gives birth to their son, Conan (Leo Howard).

Conan grows up to become a skilled, but violent warrior, whom his father believes is not ready to wield his own sword. One day, their village is attacked by the forces of Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang), a warlord that is reuniting the pieces of the Mask of Acheron in order to revive his dead wife and conquer Hyborea. After locating Corin's piece and murdering the entire village, Zym leaves. Conan is the only survivor, and swears revenge.

20 years later, Conan (Jason Momoa) is a pirate still seeking for revenge. With the help of his friend Artus (Nonso Anozie), he raids a slave camp and takes the rescued slaves to the city of Messianta, where Conan meets Ela-Shan (Saïd Taghmaoui), a thief being chased by a man whom Conan recognizes as Lucius (Steven O'Donnell), one of Zym's soldiers from years before. Conan allows himself to be captured alongside Ela-Shan, and, in prison, escapes and confronts Lucius, who is forced to reveal that Zym is planning to sacrifice the pure blood descendant of the sorcerers of Acheron in order to unleash the mask's power. He helps the rest of the prisoners to escape, and, in retribution, Ela-Shan tells Conan that, if he ever needs him, Conan will find him at the City of Thieves, Argalon.

Meanwhile, Zym and his daughter, the sorceress Marique (Rose McGowan) attack a monastery where they believe the pure blood is. Sensing something is wrong, Fassir (Raad Rawi), an elderly monk who teaches the monastery's students, tells one of them, Tamara (Rachel Nichols), to run away and return to her birthplace. Tamara's carriage is chased by Zym's men. Conan hears the commotion and, recognizing Zym's men, attacks and kills them, saving Tamara. Conan also captures one of Zym's men, Remo (Milton Welsh), and catapults him to Zym's nearby camp after forcing him to reveal Tamara's importance as the pure blood.

Zym and Marique confront Conan, who is pretending to be interested in exchanging Tamara for gold, and he attacks Zym, but Marique saves her father by invoking soldiers made of sand and then poisoning Conan with a poison-laced boomerang sword. Tamara rescues him and they return to Artus' boat, stationed nearby, where Artus helps Conan recover. The boat is attacked by Zym's men, and, although they kill several of Conan's men, they are defeated. Conan orders Artus to return to Messiana with Tamara and departs to confront Zym in his kingdom. Artus tells Tamara that Conan left a map behind and she follows him, meeting with him in a cave, where they make love. The next day, as she's returning to the boat to join Artus so they can sail away, she's captured by Zym's men.

Conan finds out about Tamara's capture and departs to Argalon, where he asks Ela-Shan to help him break into Zym's castle unnoticed, while Zym prepares to drain Tamara of her blood to unleash the mask's energies. After confronting several monsters that guard the dungeons, Conan infiltrates Zym's followers and watches as Zym puts on the mask, having removed some of Tamara's blood. He confronts Zym, and the cave where they're in begins to crumble in the ensuing battle, killing Zym's followers. Conan is able to release Tamara, and she escapes as he fights Zym. The castle starts to fall, as Marique attacks Tamara. Conan hears Tamara's scream and attacks Marique, cutting her hand off and then throwing her into a pit, where she gets impaled by a large spike below. Zym comes and, upon finding his daughter's corpse, he swears revenge upon Conan.

Conan and Tamara become trapped in a unstable bridge as Zym attacks them. He uses the mask's power to call forth the spirit of his dead wife, Maliva, a powerful sorceress who was murdered by the monks from Tamara's monastery for attempting to unleash occult forces to destroy Hyborea, and Maliva's spirit begins to possess Tamara. She begs Conan to let her fall, but he refuses, and instead stabs the bridge before jumping to safety with Tamara. The bridge collapses along with Zym. The power-hungry ruler falls to the lava below the immense precipice screaming the name of his wife, implying his demise. The mask shatters upon impact with the ground below.

Conan and Tamara escape, and he returns her to her birthplace, telling her that they'll meet again. He then returns to his old village and tells his father that he had avenged his death and recovered the sword Zym stole from him, honoring his memory.

Cast

  • Jason Momoa as Conan
  • Rachel Nichols as Tamara: A beautiful and studious novitiate of a monastery who is actually of a bloodline of Acheronian necromancers.
  • Stephen Lang as Khalar Zym: A ruthless empire-building warlord, seeking Acheron's powers over life and death to resurrect his wife Maliva who was burned for her evil. The character was originally going to be called Khalar Singh[8]
  • Rose McGowan as Marique: Khalar Zym's daughter and a powerful witch.
    • Yoana Petrova as Young Marique
  • Bob Sapp as Ukafa: Leader of Kushite Tribemen from the savannahs of Kush. Khalar Zym's lieutenant; he is "jealous that Zym’s daughter, Marique, will one day be warlord. He obeys his leader but plots the overthrow of his daughter."
  • Steven O'Donnell as Lucius: Leader of Khalar Zym's "Legion of Aquilonian Mercenaries" he is disfigured by Conan during the ransacking of the Cimmerian village. He became warden of a prison soon after.
  • Diana Lubenova as Cheren: A blind archer who leads a similar band of blind archers in Khalar Zym's mercenary army.
  • Ron Perlman as Corin: A blacksmith, a leader of the Cimmerians and Conan's father.
  • Nonso Anozie as Artus: A Zamoran pirate and friend of Conan.
  • Saïd Taghmaoui as Ela-Shan: A thief who owes a debt to Conan.
  • Milton Welsh as Remo: A "mysterious warrior of dark magic."
  • Raad Rawi as Fassir: An elder monk and leader of the monastery charged with the care of Tamara.
  • Anton Trendafilov as Xaltotun
  • Aysun Aptulova as Sacrificial Victim
  • Daniel Rashev as Acolyte Priest

Production

Development

There had been talk in the late 1990s of a second Conan sequel following Conan the Destroyer, about an older Conan, set to be titled King Conan: Crown of Iron; however, due to Arnold Schwarzenegger's election in 2003 as governor of California, this project came to an end.[9]

Warner Bros. spent 7 years trying to get the project off the ground, with development attempts made by Larry and Andy Wachowski, John Milius, and Robert Rodriguez who was closest to completing development but left the project for Grindhouse. Boaz Yakin was hired in 2006 to start again, however, in June 2007 the rights reverted to Paradox Entertainment, though all drafts made under Warner remained with them. Paradox's CEO, Fredrik Malmberg, told Variety "we have great respect for Warner Bros., but after seven years, we came to the point where we needed to see progress to production." Paradox were auctioning the rights after and various groups took interest in producing, including New Line Cinema, Hollywood Gang, and Millennium Films.[10]

Due to development-time frustrations felt when the rights were with Warner, Malmberg made deal terms where he was asking for $1 million for a one-year option, with another $1 million for each year's renewal. In August 2007, it was announced that Millennium had acquired the right to the project in a unrevealed seven-figure deal, with Malmberg and Millennium's Avi Lerner, Boaz Davidson, Joe Gatta, and George Furla set to produce. The deal was brokered by Gatta, who originally made the deal between Paradox and Warner in 2002. Production was aimed for a Spring 2006 start, with intention of having stories more faithful to the Robert E. Howard creation.[11]

After the partnership on Rambo, Nu Image Films, Millennium and Lionsgate partnered on this film due to the strength of that relationship, and the happiness by Millennium producers with the handling of Rambo. Lionsgate were announced to be handling North America's distribution in January 2008. At this point, Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer had been courted to write the script. Nu Image/Millennium founders Lerner and Danny Dimbort were set to fully finance the film at an estimated $100 million.[12] With a brief effort of developing Red Sonja with Rose McGowan as the lead, Robert Rodriguez had mentioned in July 2008 he had been in discussions to produce Conan also.[13] Dirk Blackman and Howard McCain were announced in August to have been hired for a re-write of the script, with the intention of returning to the original source material and in the desire of making an R-rated film.[14]

In November 2008, Brett Ratner was prematurely announced to be the director of Conan to The Hollywood Reporter by Lerner, something which displeased him as he pointed out "I am not doing Conan now. This is totally premature. For now, Conan is only a development deal. I have a deal at Paramount and I'm doing Beverly Hills Cop [IV] first, no matter what. Avi shouldn't be telling you or anyone else in the press what I'm doing."[15][16] However, Gatta revealed in May 2009 that after 6 months of discussions on developing the film, Ratner was off the project due to the busyness of Ratner's schedule. Regardless, Gatta was hopeful of still meeting the intention of Millennium to start filming on August 24 in Bulgaria.[17] June 2009 revealed Marcus Nispel would take the reins as director to the film.[18] Sean Hood was announced in February 2010 to be rewriting the script once more for the producers.[19]

Early in the pre-production process Conan was a temporary title for the film, until it was changed to Conan 3D. Finally, early on December 2010, the title was definitely changed to Conan the Barbarian, as was titled the John Millius 1982 film.[20]

Casting

In January 2010, Jason Momoa was selected for the role of Conan.[21] Momoa beat Kellan Lutz for the role. He was enrolled in an intense six-week training program at a stunt and martial arts academy in Los Angeles for his part, while still finalizing negotiations for the film. Momoa intended to add 10 pounds of muscle to his 215 pound frame, with the help of The Bourne Ultimatum's stunt performer David Leitch, and the martial arts stunt coordinator for The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, Chad Stahelski.[22]

Leo Howard was revealed to be portraying the younger Conan in the film. The youth of Conan will be shown for the length of the first 15 minutes of the film.[23]

The casting call for Conan's father, Corin, reveals the character to be "powerfully built, intelligent, graceful, master swordsman, skilled blacksmith, de facto leader of Cimmerians and Conan's father. He resolves to answer the terrible request of his dying wife and cuts Conan out of her so she can see him. He then shoulders the burden of raising Conan, which proves to be daunting given the boy's savage nature. Corin teaches his son the meaning of the sword: a hot blade must be cooled and tempered. When Khalar finally corners him and tortures him to death, he shows no regret nor pain, hiding his concern for his son's safety from the eyes of the enemy."[24] Mickey Rourke first entered negotiations. Originally talks had happened before but after a period of no talk, offers were returned to Rourke in February 2010.[25] Rourke had however left the project for a second time, in apparent favour of the Immortals film. Ron Perlman took on the character in March 2010.[26][27]

Bob Sapp portrays Ukafa, "a leader of Kushite Tribemen from the savannahs of Kush. Ukafa is Khalar Zym’s second in command, jealous that Zym’s daughter, Marique, will one day be warlord. He obeys his leader but plots the overthrow of his daughter. He is a mighty warrior and unbeatable in battle—until he meets Conan."[28]

Rachel Nichols joined the cast as Tamara, described as "the Queen’s servant, bodyguard and best friend. She and many other female bodyguards to the queen have been in hiding most of their lives because of the curse of Acheron, which would take the queen’s life to bring almost immortal power to its king. When Khalar Zym, a powerful warlord with ambitions to become the king of Acheron, storms the monastery and captures all of the novitiates, she is separated from Ilira, the one she must protect. With all of her strength and will, Tamara is determined to find and rescue her. She finds herself in league with Conan because of a mutual need to find Khalar Zym. She is not in the least intimidated by Conan’s size or grim demeanor and their alliance eventually blossoms into something that surprises them both."[29]

Stephen Lang will play Khalar Zym, described to be "commanding in size and manner, a warlord and formidable warrior, brilliant, cruel, weathered and tanned by the many campaigns he has waged and won. He is driven in his quest to find the Queen of Acheron and has been building an empire to do so."[30]

Dolph Lundgren had spoken to the producers in November 2009 for an unspecified role.[31]

Variety announced on March 2010 that Rose McGowan would also star as an "an evil half-human/half-witch".[32] She will play the daughter of Stephen Lang's character, Khalar Zym called Marique. Although originally written as a male character called Fariq, McGowan impressed the producers with her take of the role, therefore slightly re-writing her character to be female.

Filming

Filming was first hoped to be started in Spring 2008. Nothing was set until Ratner came on board. Filming had a set date for August 24, 2008, in Bulgaria. Ratner however departed in May that year, and the start-date for filming was pushed back, with South Africa being revealed as another filming destination.[18] Filming finally began, in Bulgaria, on March 15, 2010.[32]

The Bulgarian shooting locations are Nu Boyana Film Studios, Bolata, Pobiti Kamani, Bistritsa, Sofia, Zlatnite Mostove, Pernik and Vitosha.[33] [34]

The film had a 3-D conversion in post production.[35]

Release

Conan the Barbarian was first released on August 17, 2011 in France, Belgium, Iceland and the Philippines. It was released in Australia, Italy and Israel on August 18, in the United States, Canada and Spain on August 19,[36] in Switzerland on August 21,[37] in the United Kingdom on August 26,[38] among others.

Critical reception

As of August 19, 2011, the film has received generally negative reviews, attaining a 24% aggregate approval rating based on 108 reviews on the review-aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.[39] The website provided a consensus that "while its relentless, gory violence is more faithful to the Robert E. Howard books, Conan the Barbarian forsakes three-dimensional characters, dialogue, and acting in favor of unnecessary 3D effects."[39] The film also received a score of 37 out of 100 from review aggregate Metacritic, which indicates "generally unfavorable" reviews based on 28 reviews.[40] Even in places where special effects films usually do well, like India, the film has been panned. Popular Indian website rediff.com said Conan The Barbarian lacks intrigue and imagination, amd rated it 1.5 out of 5. [41] Samrat Sharma of fullhyd.com was highly critical of the movie, calling it a film that cannot be enjoyed or even sat through without being suitably drunk. He rated it 2.5 out of 10. [42] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave it 1 star out of 5, and said that it is a dull, humourless remake of the 1982 film starring Schwarzenegger. [43]

However not all reviews were negative Scott Weinberg of Twitchfilm.com stated "Some action scenes are tighter and more cohesive than others, but there's little denying that Nispel's Conan moves like a shot, tosses a lot of hardcore lunacy at the screen, and shows a decent amount of respect for basic matinee action-fests."

References

  1. ^ William Bibbiani (August 17, 2011). "Marcus Nispel and Fredrick Malmberg on 'Conan the Barbarian'". Crave Online. Crave Online. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
  2. ^ "Conan The Barbarian". bbfc.co.uk. British Board of Film Classification. August 3, 2011. Retrieved August 15, 2011. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  3. ^ Kaufman, Amy (August 18, 2011). "Movie Projector: 'Conan' may not conquer 'The Help'". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved August 19, 2011. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  4. ^ Box office
  5. ^ Conan's French and Belgian releases as anounced on Syfyuniversal.fr, a French science fiction & fantasy online channel
  6. ^ Illimité, le magazine des cinémas UGC, #202/July-August 2011, page 17, ISSN 1165-4368
  7. ^ A non-exhaustive list of countries where Conan is scheduled for realease.
  8. ^ Rob Frappier. "Stephen Lang Talks 'Conan' Remake". Screen Rant.
  9. ^ Brian Linder (October 8, 2003). "Goodbye Hollywood, Hello Sacramento". IGN.com. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved March 7, 2010.
  10. ^ Michael Fleming (June 27, 2007). "'Barbarian's' at the gate for New Line". Variety. Reed Elsevier Inc. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  11. ^ Michael Fleming (August 12, 2007). "Millennium wins rights to 'Conan'". Variety. Reed Elsevier Inc. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  12. ^ Michael Fleming (January 10, 2007). "Lionsgate leaps on 'Conan'". Variety. Reed Elsevier Inc. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  13. ^ Silas Lesnick (July 24, 2008). "SDCC: Red Sonja Panel / Rodriguez to Produce Conan?". Superhero Hype!. CraveOnline Media, LLC. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  14. ^ Jay A. Fernandez, Carolyn Giardina (August 13, 2008). "'Conan' unsheathed at Lionsgate". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  15. ^ Jay A. Fernandez, Borys Kit (November 8, 2008). "Brett Ratner circles 'Conan'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  16. ^ "Ratner Says Conan Announcement Was Premature". Superhero Hype!. CraveOnline Media, LLC. November 12, 2008. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  17. ^ Helen O'Hara (May 7, 2009). "Exclusive: Brett Ratner Off Conan?". Empire. Bauer Consumer Media. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  18. ^ a b "Marcus Nispel to Direct Conan". Superhero Hype!. CraveOnline Media, LLC. June 11, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  19. ^ "Sean Hood Rewriting Conan". Superhero Hype!. CraveOnline Media, LLC. February 24, 2010. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  20. ^ Vejvoda, Jim (December 7, 2010). "Conan is a Barbarian Again". ComingSoon.net. CraveOnline Media. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  21. ^ David McNary (January 21, 2010). "Momoa set for 'Conan'". Variety. Reed Elsevier Inc. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  22. ^ Sophia Ahmad (February 19, 2010). "Interview with Norwalk's 'Conan' star Jason Momoa". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  23. ^ El Mayimbe (February 15, 2010). "Exclusive: Leo Howard Cast As Young Conan!". LatinoReview. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  24. ^ Clint Morris (October 26, 2009). "Exclusive : Conan Characters!". Moviehole.net. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
  25. ^ "Mickey Rourke to play Conan's father". Heat Vision. The Hollywood Reporter. February 24, 2010. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  26. ^ Claude Brodesser-Akner (March 12, 2010). "Hellboy Is Conan the Barbarian's Dad". Vulture. New York Media. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
  27. ^ Owen Williams (March 15, 2010). "Ron Perlman Is Conan Snr". Empire. Bauer Consumer Media. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
  28. ^ El Mayimbe (February 25, 2010). "Exclusive: Bob Sapp Cast As Ukafa In Conan!". LatinoReview. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  29. ^ El Mayimbe (March 4, 2010). "Exclusive: Rachel Nichols Cast As Tamara in Conan". LatinoReview. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  30. ^ "Avatar's Stephen Lang Confirmed for Conan". Superhero Hype!. CraveOnline Media, LLC. March 9, 2010. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  31. ^ Brian Warmoth (November 9, 2009). "EXCLUSIVE: Dolph Lundgren Talking To 'Conan' Producers About Potential Role". MTV. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  32. ^ a b McNary, Dave (March 16, 2010). "'Conan' rounds out cast". Variety. Reed Elsevier Inc. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
  33. ^ Conan filming in Bulgaria
  34. ^ [1]
  35. ^ "New Images From 'Conan' Make the Film Look…Rather Good?". /Film.
  36. ^ Conan release date in the USA
  37. ^ Conan's Switzerland release as anounced on Syfyuniversal.fr, a French science fiction & fantasy online channel
  38. ^ Filmdates.co.uk, UK cinema release dates
  39. ^ a b "Conan The Barbarian". rottentomatoes.com. Rotten Tomatoes. August 19, 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2011. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  40. ^ "Conan The Barbarian". metacritic.com. Metacritic. August 19, 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2011. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  41. ^ Shaikh Ayaz (26 August 2011). "Conan The Barbarian Review". CNN-IBN..
  42. ^ Nupur Barua (26 August 2011). "Conan The Barbarian Review".
  43. ^ Rajeev Masand=26 August 2011. "Conan The Barbarian Review".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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