In 1997, Kevin Sorbo starred in Kull the Conqueror, a sword-and-sorcery film based on the works of Robert E. Howard. The movie attempted to fill the void left by Arnold Schwarzenegger's refusal to return as Conan but ultimately failed both critically and commercially.
From Conan's Shadow to the 1929 Weird Tales Origin
The creation of Kull the Conqueror was a pivot born of necessity. According to the report, the film was originally developed as a Conan the Barbarian project,but producers were forced to reimagine the lead character after Arnold Schwarzenegger declined to reprise his role. This shift brought the spotlight back to Kull, a character Robert E. Howard actually created before Conan, first appearing in the 1929 pulp magazine Weird Tales.
While Robert E. howard's Conan is the more globally recognized icon, Kull of Atlantis was designed as a more philosophical and brooding warrior. This literary depth provided a rich foundation for the sword-and-sorcery subgenre, yet the 1997 cinematic version struggled to capture the essence of the 15 original Kull works published by Howard.
The $35 Million Gamble on Kevin Sorbo
To lead the film, producers cast Kevin Sorbo , who was then a household name due to his role in the Hercules television series. the strategy was to translate Sorbo's fantasy-genre television popularity into big-screen success. However, as the source notes, this transition failed to materialize, leaving the production with a massive financial deficit.
The financial disparity of the project is stark. Produced on a $35 million budget, Kull the Conqueror earned a meager $6.1 million at the box office. This failure highlighted the precarious nature of relying on TV stardom to anchor a high-budget theatrical release in the late 1990s.
Akivasha's Hell Army and the Pogue Script
The narrative of the film, penned by screenwriter Charles Edward Pogue, diverged significantly from Robert E. Howard's source material. The plot centers on Kull's ascent to the throne after killing the previous king in self-defense, only to face a threat from the witch Akivasha. Akivasha seeks to restore a dark empire by commanding a terrifying army from hell.
While the film utilized elements of dark magic and ancient warfare, critics felt the execution was lacking. Rather than offering a fresh take on the genre, the movie was viewed as a calculated attempt to ride the wave of existing fantasy trends without providing the substance found in the original Howard stories.
A 21 Percent Rotten Tomatoes Disaster
The critical reception of Kull the Conqueror was overwhelmingly negative. The film currently holds a 21 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an audience score of 24 percent. These numbers reflect a project that failed to resonate with either professional critics or the general movie-going public.
Despite the cinematic failure, the character of Kull survived through other media. Marvel Comics published Kull solo series between 1971 and 1985, and the character later appeared in crossover events like The Book of the Vishanti: The Curse of the Darkhold in 1989. This endurance suggests that the failure lay in the 1997 adapttion rather than the character himself.
Marvel's 1971-1985 Run and the Missing Cinematic Spark
The disparity between Kull's success in comics and his failure on screen raises specific questions about the 1997 production. It remains unclear why the filmmakers chose to move so far away from the "brooding" nature of the character that defined the original 1929 stroies, opting instead for a more generic action hero archetype.
Furthermore, the source reports that the film was a box office bomb, but it does not detail whether the failure was due to poor marketing or a genuine lack of interest in the Robert E. Howard brand outside of Conan. With subsequent licenses held by Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing, Arrow Comics, and Titan Comics, the character remains a staple of the page, even if he remains a footnote in cinema history.
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