The upcoming remake of Masters of the Universe took a big step forward this past summer when it was announced that Sony Pictures and Escape Artists had hired G.I. Joe: Retaliation director Jon M. Chu to bring the character known as He-Man back to the big screen for the first time since 1987. At the time the production was working from a script written by Alex Litvak and Mike Finch (Predators), but it now looks as though they are interested in doing something a little different with the project, as they have brought in a new writer to do rewrites.
Variety has learned that screenwriter Richard Wenk has been brought aboard Masters of the Universe to rewrite the existing script. In recent years the writer has largely been working on action driven movies, including 2006’s 16 Blocks, 2011’s The Mechanic and 2012’s The Expendables 2, so he should fit right at home with the new project (it’s also funny that he has experience writing for Dolph Lundgren, who played He-Man in the first movie).
Based on the popular Mattel line of toys, Masters of the Universe is set in a world known as Eternia where a warrior named Prince Adam works to take down the villainous Skeletor by becoming the hero known as He-Man. Gary Goddard directed the original movie, which also starred Frank Langella as Skeletor. The franchise has also spawned a couple of television series, the most notable being >em> He-Man and the Masters of the Universe<.em>, which ran for two seasons in 1983.
Wenk is also currently working on a film version of the series The Equalizer, which has Denzel Washington set to star and will be in production by April.
