Well this is certainly very good news. No, not that two new writers have been set upon the script for the upcoming “Conan” remake, but that the budget appears to be very high ($100 million), and they’re shooting for a hard-edged R-rating on this one. No little sissy PG-13 bullshit here, kiddos. The new writers for “Conan” are Dirk Blackman and Howard McCain, who last penned the chick fight flick “Amazon”, which rumor has it, Scarlett Johansson is attached to do something with. Probably star, or maybe polish swords on the set of. It’s anybody’s guess right now on that one.

So here’s THR with the deelio:

Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer (”Sahara”) wrote earlier drafts of the film, a potential resurrection of the classic warrior created by Robert E. Howard in dozens of pulp stories published in the 1930s. In 1982, Oliver Stone and John Milius wrote a bloody adaptation, which Milius also directed, that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“We all want this movie to go into production as soon as possible,” Malmberg said. “It’s a fast-tracked movie. Lionsgate felt the process was enhanced by having a second team come in and do a script.”

Much like with “Batman Begins,” the studio hopes to redraw the Conan feature universe to produce a new, post-millennial franchise. So rather than remake the Schwarzenegger bloodfest, the writers have gone back to Howard’s original stories to create a $100 million R-rated origin film, the largest production to date for Lionsgate and Millennium.

“Fans expect (these types of movies) to be more true to the source material,” Malmberg said. “There’s no reason there couldn’t be a Conan movie every two years. He’s almost like Batman: He’s a dark hero. He’s a hard hero. He has to be badass, but we also have to like him.”

By Crom, this thing might actually be good! Well, probably not, I personally don’t think any other version of Conan can top what Milius and Schwarzenegger put up on the screen all those long eons ago, but hey, who knows, there’s a slight chance this thing won’t be a complete embarrassment. At least they won’t be watering it down for the MTV masses…