At one point it appeared that Brett Ratner would be directing the Conan re-boot for Millennium/Nu Image (see “Ratner Helming Conan?”), but it now looks like he will helming the hefty heroics of a different muscle-bound movie icon, Hercules, for the same studio.  Ratner, who directed the disappointing X-Men: The Last Stand finale to the first X-Men trilogy produced by Fox, is certainly no favorite with comic fans though his name continues to crop up in connection with comic book and fantasy projects (see “Ratner to Helm Youngblood”).

Now The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Ratner is in talks with Millennium/Nu Image producer Avi Lerner to direct a new fantasy film based on the exploits of the mythological hero Hercules.  The bulky Greek demigod has a less than sterling cinematic pedigree.  He was the subject of a couple of popular Italian movies starring Steve Reeves starting with Hercules (1958), which spawned a Dell comic book with art by John Buscema.  Arnold Schwarzenegger made his film debut in the hilariously bad 1970 opus Hercules in New York, while the Hulk’s Lou Ferrigno starred in a 1983 Hercules film.  In addition to the Hercules: The Legendary Journey’s TV series there were several animated Hercules series as well as a 1997 Hercules cartoon feature film from Disney as well as other assorted TV series, movies, and Hercules comic book series published by both Marvel and DC, plus a recent mini-series from Radical Publishing.

The success of Clash of the Titans, which has made nearly $500 million worldwide, has reinvigorated the “sword and sandal” genre and made the production of a Hercules film more likely.  Even Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time which earned a disappointing $89 million domestically, managed to make over $226 million overseas.