Conan the Destroyer Killed the Series But Is Worth Another Look 40 Years Later By Conan always tries to tell people what’s best in life, living by example, but in return, he hasn’t been treated especially well in the world of live-action adaptations. Most of us are familiar with the success of Conan the Barbarian, but its sequel, Conan the Destroyer, is usually mentioned in harsher tones or by people who feel they need to defend their love for the 1984 installment. There are many reasons why the movie faltered and a ton of blame to go around, but at the end of the day, the thing that this epic hero is the best at destroying is his franchise.
Conan the Destroyer was an attempt to capitalize on the critical acclaim and buzz around the first film, but producer Dino De Laurentiis believed that the previous outing could have made even more money had it not been rated R, allowing in younger viewers as well. Some of the higher-grossing movies at the time were aimed at family audiences, so Destroyer would shoot to be PG since it was released months before the PG-13 rating would be implemented with Red Dawn. John Milius directed that movie, coincidently, as he was the director for Conan the Barbarian and discussed returning, but it was said that he had scheduling conflicts and also wasn’t a fan of working with De Laurentiis.
This eventually led to Richard Fleischer (Doctor Dolittle, Soylent Green) coming on board, a skilled director and veteran of the craft, who was, unfortunate.