'Conan The Barbarian' Bombs at the Box Office, Gets Sued in the Process

It's been a rough few days for "Conan the Barbarian." The film tanked at the box office in comparison to expectations, taking fourth place in the weekend's box office race, bringing in under $10 million. Humiliatingly enough, the original "Conan," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, brought in $9.6 million in 1982 dollars.

To make matters worse, comic book legend Stan Lee's company Stan Lee Media is reportedly suing the company that made the film, demanding 100 percent of the proceeds from the exhibition of the movie, according to Entertainment Weekly. Considering that the budget for the blockbuster wannabe was estimated by EW at around $70-80 M, finding anything that qualifies as "proceeds" could be slim pickin's.

Stan Lee apparently "claims the company was betrayed by a former lawyer who made an illegal deal to transfer the rights to another company," which then allowed the new box office bomb to be made, according to EW.

Directed by Marcus Niespel, who also did the poorly received remakes of "Friday the 13th" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Conan the Barbarian" garnered an abysmal 24% rating from critics on RottenTomatoes, with reviews calling the film "another ham-handed adventure flick in eye-deadening, wallet-draining 3-D" or better yet "a muddled mess of a film bogged down by poor acting, cheesy dialogue and an incoherent plot."

The earliest reviews were even crueler, comparing it to a direct-to DVD movie and instructing audiences to "stay away from it like it was a horde of bandits coming to burn down your village."

Stan Lee may be able to get his hands back on the "Conan the Barbarian" name and likeness, but by the time the film is done with what looks to be a perilous run in the theaters, will anyone want to hear the character's name again?