By the power of Greyskull! Legendary hero He-Man will soon make his way back to the silver screen for the first time in decades under the direction of filmmaker McG, and the development of the project seems to have looked to current box office giants for inspiration. As you can probably guess, that means Marvel. With a He-Man and the Masters of the Universe reboot very much on the way, McG recently addressed the distinct influence of the MCU on the project's development. He elaborated:
I think we want to honor the fan base, first and foremost. We also need to be cognizant of the incredible resonance of what Kevin Feige is doing with Marvel, and the balance of full-bodied entertainment. That it's both credible and emotional, action-packed, and the story of a hero's journey. It's the genesis of He-Man, it's the becoming of He-Man. We want it to be clicking on all cylinders in that regard. We're not going to stop until we get it right. Listen, I love that movie with Frank [Langella] and Dolph [Lundgren]. I watch it, and it's a tremendous pleasure for me to watch. I'm raised on the toys, and I'm down at Mattel all the time. We're just really focused on getting it right. I want it to be full-bodied entertainment that respects the fan base, and is more emotional than you might imagine, inventive and original. Obviously, we're all cognizant of what's going on with Game of Thrones. It's incredible. We're cognizant of what's going on in Guardians of the Galaxy. James Gunn's doing a great job. We're going to try to answer the call and take it higher.
Director McG recently spoke to IGN about the upcoming He-Man and the Masters of the Universe movie, and explained the inspiration that Marvel Studios has provided for the upcoming adaptation. While obviously the He-Man movie will be its own entity in terms of story, they want to capitalize on the full spectrum of emotional and provocative entertainment that Marvel has executed so well over the course of the last decade. This means providing audiences with laughs, thrills, romance, and everything else we expect from a cohesive hero's journey, while making sure He-Man's original fans walk away wholly satisfied. In particular he cites the success of Guardians of the Galaxy, which makes sense when we consider that James Gunn's Marvel franchise most certainly capitalizes on the sort of 1980's nostalgia that a He-Man movie would also strive for.
Obviously Marvel didn't necessarily pioneer this type of filmmaking, as franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones have similarly produced movies with that tone and style, but they definitely perfected the process in recent years. Marvel movies have something for everybody; they can capitalize on nostalgia while giving audiences something fresh, and that's a direction that McG wants to take the He-Man film. Marvel proved that ridiculous concepts like a talking Raccoon have a place within the modern mainstream blockbuster, so the timing simply feels right for a proper He-Man movie.
The He-Man movie remains in the very earliest stages of development, but we will bring you any and all details related to the project as more information becomes available.
