With Warner Bros. losing the rights to CONAN THE BARBARIAN, New Line is the frontrunner to be the next studio to try and bring a new version of Robert E. Howard's pulp novel character to the screen, reports VARIETY. Rights holder Paradox Ent., repped by CAA, held an auction for the property and New Line beat out other contenders with a mid-six against seven figure offer for an 18-month option with the rights for one extension.

Warners lost the rights when they couldn't get a script into production by spring. After seven years of development and three other extensions, Paradox decided to not extend Warners' option again. Over the years, Larry and Andy Wachowski, original CONAN director John Milius and Robert Rodriguez all circled the project.

If New Line finally inks an agreement, it will not have the rights to any scripts developed at Warners.