The long in development Masters of the Universe live-action reboot seemed to have found its place at Netflix, and was set to join the two animated shows currently streaming on the platform. It now looks as though that will not be happening as Variety reported that the live-action He-Man project is now dead, with Mattel looking to a new partner to try and bring the muscle man of Eternia to screens.
The last time a live-action Masters of the Universe movie hit the big screen was back in 1987, with Dolph Lundgren taking on the lead role and battling Frank Langella’s Skeletor for the supremacy of Eternia. While the movie was panned, it has become the true definition of a cult classic over the years, and the idea of a new version being brought to life has been now in development hell for almost two decades.
Most recently, it seemed that after several false starts elsewhere, Netflix were well on the way to making the movie a reality with Kyle Allen being finally cast as He-Man himself and The Lost City’s directing duo of Adam and Aaron Nee being on board to helm. Variety noted that according to multiple sources, the project has now been shut down after spending somewhere in the region of $30-60 million on its development so far. It seems that this initial cost and the direction the budget was heading has been reported as the main reason for the cancelation of the movie.
Will a Masters of the Universe Movie Ever Be Made?
On the surface, it seems impossible to see why making a movie based on the legacy of He-Man and Skeletor’s eternal battle is proving so difficult to bring to fruition. After all, a successful multi-season cartoon series was made in the 1980s based on nothing more than a few action figures. Subsequently, there have been several other animated takes on the characters and a whole series of DC Comics stories that even saw a crossover with some of DC’s best known characters as well as the another iconic 80s group of the Thundercats.
The movie had originally been set to film this year at Netflix, but it seems that the battering the streamer’s stock price took has taken a great toll, and it seems that shelling out around $200 million on a Masters of the Universe reboot is something that is not worth the risk. The report suggests that Netflix wanted the movie to have a budget of less than $150 million. Having reportedly already spent $30 million to purchase the rights to the project from Sony back in 2019, it seems that they would rather take the hit than continue to spend the rest of the money it would cost to see He-Man life the Power Sword and yell “By the Power of Grayskull” again.
With Barbie about to become one of the biggest hitters of the year, it will likely now be a Mattel priority to find a new home for Masters of the Universe as they themselves look to go all out on a number of franchises based on their various toy lines.
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