Arrow Video Doubles Down On Conan On Jan. 16 With Newly-Minted 4K Ultra HD Editions Of Conan The Barbarian And Conan The Destroyer

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, doubles-down on Conan in January.   Not just any Conan, but Conan THE Barbarian with two new film restorations of his epic adventures.

Arriving on Jan. 16 — restored in 4K from the original camera negatives — are both writer/director John Milius’ (with none other than Oliver Stone as the co-writer) 1982 release of Conan the Barbarian and director Richard Fleischer’s 1984 follow-up, Conan the Destroyer.

You can’t have one without the other.   And you can’t have the first one, Conan the Barbarian, without Arnold Schwarzenegger, but that almost didn’t happen.

Five years before the film was released, the late Edward Pressman (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, The Crow, Judge Dredd, Street Fighter, etc.) had acquired the rights to pulp fiction writer Robert Ervin Howard’s 1930s collection of “Conan” stories, which found a home at Universal with Pumping Iron’s star, Arnold Schwarzenegger attached.   Things fell apart when director John Milius bailed on the production.

Quick on his feet, Pressman took the turn-around production over to Paramount, where Oliver Stone was added as the screenwriter.  He had won the Oscar for his Midnight Express script in 1979, so he was “hot” at the time.  That didn’t work out.

Now a “troubled” production, legendary producer Dino De Laurentiis stepped in and got it back over to Universal, with Milius back on board.   Filming was set to begin in the summer of 1980, but that blew up.  

Finally in January of 1981 the cameras were rolling and everything was on track for a Christmas-season release.

Here’s where it gets tricky.   The film was pulled when Universal finally saw the finished production and was shocked at what Milius and Stone had come up with … this is NOT a Christmas-season picture!!

The studio “tested” it in Europe in the spring of 1982 and finally put Conan the Barbarian on the release calendar in a pre-Memorial Day slot in mid-May (in other words, they were not going to “waste” valuable summer real estate on it).

Some of the major critics at the time savaged it, but audiences loved Conan the Barbarian and Schwarzenegger was catapulted from “muscleman” to “superstar” literally overnight.

The film was such a hit that a sequel was put in the works.  Conan the Destroyer arrived in 1984, which was a very good year for Schwarzenegger as The Terminator would open theatrically in October of that year!!

Arrow Video has both films lined up for the 4K Ultra HD marketplace on Jan. 16.  Conan the Barbarian will be a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack product offering, with the companion Blu-ray disc packed with the bonus features (and we mean PACKED), while Conan the Destroyer will be a stand-alone 4K Ultra HD release.   

Both Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer will also be available as Blu-ray product offerings.   And, Arrow Video is combining the two films into a Mega-Set, which works out to a $30 savings on the 4K Ultra HD editions for consumers who opt for the “Limited Edition” Mega-Set.

As to bonus goodies, Conan the Barbarian will have three separate viewing options.  There is the original theatrical cut of the film, which clocks in at 127 minutes.   There are also the “International Cut” (129 minutes) and an “Extended Cut (130 minutes) as alternative viewing selections.

There are two commentary options.   The first (on the “Extended Cut”) features an archival commentary, teaming director John Milius (as director: The Wind and the Lion, Red Dawn, Flight of the Intruder … as writer: Apocalypse Now, Clear and Present Danger, etc.) with Conan himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger.   The second commentary — newly-minted and on the “Extended Cut” as well — features author Paul M. Sammon (“Conan: The Phenomenon”).   

The companion Blu-ray disc comes crammed with extras.  Kicking off the parade of bonus delights is documentary filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau’s 2000 feature-length documentary titled Conan Unchained: The Making of Conan, outtakes, ten newly-prepared featurettes — “Designing Conan,” “Costuming Conan,” “Barbaric Effects,” “Young Conan,” “Conan and the Priest,” “Cutting the Barbarian,” “Crafting Conan’s Magic,” “Barbarians and Northmen,” “Behind the Barbarian” and “A Line in the Sand” — and a ton of archival material.   

Conan the Destroyer also comes packed with bonus treasures as well!

We start off with four separate commentaries.  Three are archival — the first with director Richard Fleischer, the second with actors Olivia d’Abo (as Princess Jehnna) and Tracey Walter (as Malak) and the third commentary with film historians Kim Newmand and Stephen Jones who are joined by actor Sarah Douglas (Queen Taramis) — a newly-prepared fourth commentary with author Paul M. Sammon (“Conan: The Phenomenon”) rounds out the commentary options.

In addition, there are five newly-prepared featurettes — “Casting the Destroyer,” “Cut from a Different Cloth,” “Dune and the Destroyer,” “Swords, Sorcery and Stunts” and “Behind the Destroyer” — and two archival featurettes — “Conan: The Making of a Comic Book Legend” and “Basil Poledouris: Composing the Conan Saga.”

Mark it down, Arrow Video, Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer as 4K Ultra HD releases on Jan. 16!