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A new Masters Of The Universe movie has been in development hell for decades. It came close to fruition about a decade ago when Netflix acquired the rights to He-Man and friends from Sony.
They spent over $30 million on developing the project. Riding high on the success of the Transformers and GI Joe movies, it was a priority. They even had directors set in the form of Adam and Aaron Nee (The Lost City). The lead was to be either Noah Centineo or Kyle Allen, depending on the timing.
However budget issues casrt their shadow. The scale of what was needed to do the project justice dawned on executives. The budget ballooned to over $200 million in 2010’s money. Netflix then saw growth decline and subscribers start to fall and the axe fell.
Instead they turned to Kevin Smith and his animated take on the material through Revelation and Revolution. Much more economic. It has, however, given them some hard data about the universe and the characters, and it seems like this has shown them enough to start looking at the project again.
Things might be further along than observors thought, as today Deadline has broken the news that LAIKA studio chief and film director Travis Knight is reportedly in final negotiations to direct the movie. There is still apparently a long way to go, but the Kubo and the Two Strings and Bumblebee director is very much the top choice to take the helm. Not a bad choice, when you think about it.
Another twist is that this won’t be at Netflix. The rights have reverted to Mattel and Amazon MGM Studios are working to secure the rights, with Mattel’s Robbie Brenner, Escape Artists’ Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal as producers.
Unless you count the Money Supermarket ads in the UK, He-Man has not been seen on the screen in live action form since an ill-fated 1980s Cannon Films outing, it looks as if it may finally be moving forwards.
Masters Of The Universe tells the story of Prince Adam, the young son of Eternia’s rulers King Randor and Queen Marlena, who can transform into He-Man – the most powerful man in the universe. He uses his powers to defend Eternia from the evil forces of Skeletor who wishes to conquer the mysterious fortress of Castle Grayskull and unlock the secrets of the universe.
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