Brett Ratner, director of Rush Hour 1-3 and the deplorable X-Men: The Last Stand, has dropped off the Conan project because of scheduling constraints. Producer Joe Gatta revealed the news to Empire:

“We’re currently in the process of hiring a director. [...] For the past six months we were discussing the movie with Brett Ratner, and for more timing issues than anything else we had to part ways with Brett. We all wanted him to do it, believe me; just the timing didn’t work. But you never know what can happen.”

“We have a potential start-date on Conan of August 24. And we’ll be shooting in Bulgaria. I would say though the emphasis is on Conan [rather than Red Sonja]. It’s our crown jewel here at the company and that will be the leader. Red Sonja probably won’t happen until next year, as far as making it goes. So we want to launch Conan and reinvent the franchise.”

When a director is hired an almost immediate open casting call for Conan shall commence.