The Masters of the Universe franchise has been going robust for over forty years now, consisting of a number of traces of motion figures, a number of animated TV exhibits, a bunch of comedian e book collection, and rather more together with a live-action movie adaptation that was launched in 1987 and starred Dolph Lundgren as the enduring character He-Man. Though that ’87 movie has a powerful fan following, it wasn’t obtained very effectively generally… however now, Mattel (the toy firm behind the franchise) is able to give the thought of a live-action Masters of the Universe movie one other attempt. Arrange at Amazon MGM Studios and Mattel Studios, the brand new Masters of the Universe is aiming for a theatrical launch date of June 5, 2026 – and right here’s all the pieces we find out about it:
DEVELOPMENT HELL
The brand new try and carry a live-action Masters of Universe film into the world has been making its means by way of growth hell since not less than 2004, with a big stack of scripts being written through the years because the challenge handed by way of the arms of many various administrators. Among the many writers who’ve labored on the challenge through the years are Mike Finch and Alex Litvak (Predators), Evan Daugherty (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2014), Richard Wenk (The Equalizer), Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Caribbean), Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2), Christopher Yost (Thor: The Darkish World), David S. Goyer (Man of Metal), Artwork Marcum and Matt Holloway (Iron Man), and David Callaham (The Expendables). Wadlow and Goyer had been additionally hooked up to direct the movie once they had been engaged on the script. Among the different administrators who’ve gotten concerned with the challenge after which stepped away from it are John Woo (Laborious Boiled), John Stevenson (Kung Fu Panda), Jon M. Chu (Depraved), McG (Charlie’s Angels), and the Nee brothers (The Misplaced Metropolis). It has bounced from studio to studio: Warner Bros., Sony, Netflix, earlier than ending up at Amazon MGM. It has been reported that Netflix pumped $30 million into creating the idea earlier than deciding to let it go as a result of the finances of their model would have been $200 million.
As soon as issues fell aside at Netflix, Mattel and producer Todd Black selected to go to Amazon MGM as a result of they had been providing to offer the movie a “significant theatrical release,” which wasn’t going to occur within the Netflix days.
At instances, Masters of the Universe has even gotten far sufficient into its growth for actors to be solid as He-Man. Noah Centineo of The Recruit was set to play the character at one level, and began increase muscle for it. After Centineo dropped out, Kyle Allen (A Haunting in Venice) was solid as He-Man and began understanding six hours a day in preparation. However neither of these actors might be enjoying He-Man when the movie goes into manufacturing.
DIRECTOR & SCRIPT
As soon as the challenge ended up within the arms of Amazon MGM Studios, it was placed on the quick observe. Simply three months after their deal was made, that they had Bumblebee director Travis Knight in talks to take the helm, and he’s the director who’s lastly bringing live-action variations of He-Man and his allies and enemies again to the display.
Knight is working from a screenplay that has been written by Chris Butler (ParaNorman), based mostly on earlier drafts that had been written by David Callaham and previously hooked up administrators Aaron and Adam Nee. The Nee brothers obtained concerned when Masters of the Universe was nonetheless at Sony, then adopted it over to Netflix, the place they labored on the script with Callaham. So regardless that the movie is coming from Amazon MGM, it nonetheless benefited from selections that had been made when it was arrange at different studios.
To chop prices, nearly all of the 1987 Masters of the Universe movie is about on Nineteen Eighties Earth, with He-Man and varied different characters being transported from their house world of Eternia to Earth with the usage of a “Cosmic Key.” Oddly, regardless of technological advances and the truth that the brand new film goes to have a a lot bigger finances, the filmmakers are nonetheless planning to set a piece of its working time on Earth. Right here’s the synopsis: Ten-year-old Prince Adam crashed to Earth in a spaceship and was separated from his magical Energy Sword—the one hyperlink to his house on Eternia. After monitoring it down virtually twenty years later, Prince Adam is whisked again throughout house to defend his house planet in opposition to the evil forces of Skeletor. However to defeat such a strong villain, Prince Adam will first have to uncover the mysteries of his previous and develop into He-Man: probably the most highly effective man within the Universe.
Knight is bringing this story to life with the assistance of cinematographer Fabian Wagner, who has labored on the likes of Sport of Thrones and Home of the Dragon.
CAST
Quickly after Knight signed on to direct in February of 2024, the 2026 launch date was introduced. And simply three months after the director was employed, he discovered the actor he needed to play He-Man: Nicholas Galitzine, who already had a working relationship with Amazon, having been within the Prime Video movies The Concept of You and Purple, White and Royal Blue. As soon as he was solid, Galitzine had round seven or eight months to get into He-Man form. He mentioned the method in an interview with W journal: “There’s been quite a lot of consuming and weightlifting, quite a lot of stunts. I’m consuming about 4,000 energy a day, however the quantity of bodily work I’m doing, you find yourself hungry on the finish of the day, which is sort of stunning. That is the enjoyable half. I’ll finally go into what’s known as the slicing section, the place I’m going to be starved and so impolite to everybody. I can solely apologize for the individual I’m going to develop into in a number of months’ time.“
Galitzine is joined within the solid by Camila Mendes (Riverdale) as Teela, Jared Leto (Morbius) because the villainous Skeletor, Idris Elba (Luther) as Man-at-Arms (a.okay.a. Duncan), GLOW‘s Alison Brie as Skeletor’s proper hand girl Evil-Lyn, Morena Baccarin (Deadpool & Wolverine) as The Sorceress, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson (Captain America: Courageous New World) as Malcolm (a.okay.a. Fisto), Sam C. Wilson (Dodger) as Lure Jaw, Hafthor Bjornsson (Sport of Thrones) as Goat Man, Kojo Attah (The Beekeeper) as Tri-Klops, Jon Xue Zhang (The Brothers Solar) as Ram-Man, and James Purefoy (A Knight’s Story) and Charlotte Riley (Peaky Blinders) as He-Man’s dad and mom, King Randor and Queen Marlena. All of these names might be acquainted to followers of the Masters of the Universe franchise – after which we have now Sasheer Zamata (Agatha All Alongside) and Christian Vunipola (Wildflower) as a pair of recent characters, Suzie and Hussein.
A behind-the-scenes picture exhibits Galitzine, sporting He-Man’s blonde hair, and Mendes, with crimson in her hair to play Teela, getting ready for his or her roles alongside Hafthor Bjornsson… who, sadly, will not be sporting his Goat Man horns.
Galitzine was just lately interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter, the place he gave this quote in regards to the movie: “What I’ll say is our model is sort of completely different from the unique animation, which all of us agree was camp inside its personal proper and labored so effectively for the time. However there’s been a few iterations, clearly since there was the Revelation model of Masters of the Universe, and the comics themselves. And we’re very a lot treating our script as Bible, . But it surely’s form of wonderful to listen to what this present meant to lots of people. It was actually formative for lots of people, so it’s thrilling to do one thing that can have a nostalgia component in addition to hopefully entice a bunch of recent followers.“
Whereas chatting with Selection, Brie was requested if she must placed on muscle to play Evil-Lyn. She mentioned, “I’ve been doing it for years. I’ve just been maintaining, since GLOW, a pretty steady layer of muscle, but I’ve been trying to get a little more buffed up.” Requested if she was into the He-Man cartoon as a child, she answered, “I bear in mind watching it as a child. Lower than remembering the present itself and particulars in regards to the present, I extra simply bear in mind the act of being in entrance of the TV, watching the present. And She-Ra, in fact. It has been enjoyable to return and watch episodes of the unique cartoon. It’s cheeky, it’s bizarre, it’s humorous.“
Brie informed The Hollywood Reporter, “I read the script and I think it’s really clever. It has a really great take on He-Man, and Nick Galitzine is really talented. Those are the reasons I said yes. Actors always say that villains have the most fun, and that’s probably true. I’ve played morally compromised people but not a truly deliciously sinister evil villain. I’ve been trying to manifest playing a villain in a superhero movie, and [this is] answering that call for me.” She mentioned the unique animated collection in that interview as effectively: “I positively bear in mind it being on, and I went again and began watching it once more. It’s a lot funnier than I bear in mind. Evil-Lyn and Skeletor have a contentious relationship.“
FILMING
IMDb Professional reported that Masters of the Universe began filming in London firstly of January 2025, however in early February, solid member Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson mentioned filming was “about to start.” Whether or not filming started in January or February, we all know that Galitzine was noticed on set, in “Adam on Earth” mode, round February 14th:
Ten days later, Amazon MGM Studios shared a tease of Galitzine’s He-Man mode:
That’s all the pieces we all know in regards to the new Masters of the Universe proper now, however we’ll maintain updating this text because the movie makes its means towards its 2026 theatrical launch.
