Yesterday, CHUD received word from an inside source that Marcus Nispel has been officially signed as the director of the new Conan reboot. This report has now been officially confirmed by the trades, and Nispel will indeed be the man that replaces Brett Ratner, who stepped away from the project recently, as director. Marcus Nispel is best known as the man behind some of the big horror movie reboots of late, including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Friday the 13th.

After Ratner’s departure, the aforementioned CHUD was told of four possible directors that were up for the job: James McTeigue (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin), Christopher Gans (Silent Hill, Brotherhood of the Wolf), Neil Marshall (The Descent, Doomsday), and Nispel (Read: Three More Directors Thrown Into The ‘Conan” Mix).

At first, it seemed like McTeigue or Marshall were the best choices, though Nispel works here, too. While you may or may not be a big fan of his horror efforts, you can’t deny that they’re incredibly well-done visually. With this, you have to imagine that a solid, violent (assuming), stylized Conan adventure could be a real success. Much more so than it would have been in Ratner’s hands, this is for sure.

Originally, in Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer, Conan was played by the young, giant muscle that was Arnold Schwarzenegger. At the moment, there is no word as to who will take on the role, but it is something that we should know soon due to the fact that the studios wanted this project in motion and filming by the end of this summer.

The way things have been going with Terminator Salvation and now with Predators, it is only a matter of time before Nispel begins wooing Schwarzenegger to make a cameo as some aged, retired warrior who is filled with wisdom.