"Conan" legal battle wages as work starts on film

By Eriq Gardner

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter, ESQ.) - Here's a legal battle that's been raging almost as long as Arnold Schwarzenegger's post-bodybuilding career.

Beverly Hills-based Conan Properties Int'l, the creator and owner of the underlying rights to the "Conan the Barbarian" films, is suing several parties, including Lionsgate, Edward R. Pressman Productions, Modern Times Group, and others, seeking a piece of net profits from the films.

The lawsuit comes as indie film company Nu Image plans to begin production on a remake of "Conan the Barbarian," which Lionsgate will distribute next year.

The film series, based on the 1930s pulp novels by Robert E. Howard, was conceived in 1977; at the time, Conan Properties licensed rights to Hollywood producer Pressman in return for five percent of all net profits from the film and its sequel.

Five years later, when the film finally came out, Pressman's firm sublicensed the film, kicking off a series of handoffs. Conan Properties sued Pressman in 1983 and that matter was settled. But according to this complaint, the chain of custody, which assigned rights to the film from Pressman to Paradise Films to December Associates to Modern Entertainment and finally to Lionsgate, left Conan Properties forgotten.

The defendants have breached the original Pressman agreement and 1983 settlement, the complaint alleges, by "failing to remit to (Conan Properties) 5% of 100% of all net profits derived from the exploitation of the first film...and any sequel...based upon the Property, including but not limited to domostic and international distribution on DVD."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter