The live-action project, based on Mattel’s He-Man character, now searches for a new home, with directors Adam and Aaron Nee and lead Kyle Allen still attached.
Trouble’s brewing on Eternia. The live-action Masters of the Universe film, based on Mattel’s He-Man character, has been dropped by Netflix for budget concerns after years of production roadblocks, according to Variety.
With $30 million in development and actor’s fees already spent (with some claiming twice that number), Mattel is now shopping the film to another buyer. Masters will be seeking its fourth home, with previous attachments to both Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures. Directors Adam and Aaron Nee, as well as lead Kyle Allen, are currently still attached to the project.
“It was very important to us that with ‘Masters of the Universe’ we hold onto what that was for us as kids,” Aaron Nee told Variety in 2022. “It wasn’t silly to us or absurd to us, it had a depth and a meaning to it.” The brothers wanted to “hold onto something that has a core human empathy to it and yet isn’t afraid to have fun and get crazy … what we’re going to be able to do in this movie is gonna blow people away.”
Masters focuses on the age-old rivalry between He-Man and Skeletor, an integral plot point of the original 1980s animated series. An entire franchise, including sequels and a TV show, were reportedly in the works before the project was axed.
“It’s as big as Marvel and DC,” Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz told the New Yorker recently. “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!”
While a spokesperson for Mattel confirmed that Masters of the Universe is no longer at Netflix, no other comment has been made by either outlet.
All is not lost for He-Man fans. Kevin Smith’s animated series Masters of the Universe: Revelation is streaming now on Netflix, with Masters of the Universe: Revolution set to hit Netflix in 2024
Cybersecurity specialist by day, investigative journalist by night.
