A live-action adaptation of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe has been in and out of development for a very long time. It was most recently produced by Netflix, but a few months ago the project ended up being scrapped by the streaming service after spending $30 million on its development.
It looks like the project will live to fight another day, though, this time at Amazon MGM Studios. They are currently in talks to take on the project, which is being developed by Adam and Aaron Nee, the writing and directing team behind The Lost City.
According to Variety, “Should the studio advance, it will need to close new deals with the Nees for a script polish and to direct.” It’s also confirmed that Kyle Allen is still attached to star as He-Man. Mattel and producer Todd Black will also be looking for the film to get a significant theatrical release. This is something that was not on the table at Netflix. It’s also reported that the budget for the film will be around $170 million.
The story for the movie would’ve focused on “an orphan named Adam who discovers he is a prince destined to be the savior of a faraway land. He must quickly learn of his power and the importance of saving his true home from an evil force.”
Director Aaron Nee previously shared that they wanted to keep things wild and crazy like the original animated series, and likened the film they are making to Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok. He said:
“It’s a wild, crazy property, and we wanted to keep it wild and crazy. Like, you had just wacky characters, but what we also wanted to keep is that, what it was to experience those toys and those cartoons as kids. Whereas kids, we took it completely seriously, and trying to tap into, what was it that it was making us feel then? That empowerment that made us feel, and that sort of wide-eyed wonder of the incredible things that can happen, and the incredible worlds that you can encounter. And so we want that wildness, but also the sort of reverence and love of it, that we saw it with through the filter of our child eyes.
“Those things [Masters of the Universe properties] weren’t just huge successes because of clever marketing or something like that. It was tapping into something primal, something fundamental about us as kids. Whether the creators did it accidentally or out of brilliance doesn’t matter. It was tapping into something. And that’s what we are trying to hold onto is, what was that sparking inside of us, as kids? And so, we want that, at its core, that very basic human connection that we were feeling while not going, ‘Well, we’re grownups now. So we can’t really have a character named Ram-Man, we can’t really have Fisto.’ Instead, it’s like, ‘No, we’re going to have that.’ How do you pull in like all of the kind of just wildness and craziness, but do it with love and affection?”
Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz has also been hyping up the property’s value saying: “It’s as big as Marvel and DC. It’s hundreds of pages of characters and sorcerers and vehicles and weaponry — you name it. And then you flip through the pages, and here’s a movie, and here’s a movie, and here’s a TV show. . . . it’s endless!”
This film franchise could seriously be huge! If the creative team and studio actually do this right, Masters of the Universe could be an insanely epic fantasy adventure, the same sale as The Lord of the Rings. If this movie happens, that’s what it needs to be. I’ve had my own vision for what this franchise should be as a movie, but hopefully, the creative team who have been given the keys to the kingdom end up doing it justice if this deal with Amazon MGM Studios closes.
