30 years after Arnold Schwarzenegger swung his sword into the hearts of moviegoers across the country, the Austrian born actor, now 65, is planning to reprise his role as Conan the Barbarian for an upcoming sequel entitled “The Legend of Conan.” The franchise was extremely successful back in the early 80’s, grossing over $70 million dollars, but a 2011 attempt to bring the character back to life failed to capture the popular imagination of Conan fans. “Conan the Barbarian, starring Jason Momoa, earned only $21 million on its US release.
Schwarzenegger released a statement this week saying; “I always loved the Conan character, and I’m honored to be asked to step into the role once again.” It seems that Schwarzenegger is eager to resume his acting career now that he has finished his term as governor of California. The actor has already appeared in both “The Expendables” and “The Expendables 2,” alongside some of the greatest action stars in Hollywood’s history including Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham and Bruce Willis and has a full slate already lined up for next year. The actor is already committed to five new films, including a sequal to the 1988 classic ‘Twins’ with Danny DeVito and two thrillers; ‘Ten’ and ‘Triplets.’ Despite several years marred with personal scandal including the emergence of a love child with a former house keeper and a spectacular divorce from his wife Maria Shriver the public seems eager to see his return to the big screen.
Schwarzenegger has also been busy the last few months promoting his new autobiography called ‘Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story.’ Despite a lot of hype and appearances on The Daily Show and 60 Minutes sales have been less than stellar. The book sold 21,000 copies in its first week but quickly dropped to 6,000 copies in second week sales.