The Masters of the Universe franchise has been around since 1982, and five years after it launched, the theatrical, Dolph Lundgren-led Masters of the Universe movie was released. Since 2007, there have been numerous efforts to get another live-action film adaptation of the He-Man-centric mythology made, and in recent years, it seemed like this reboot had finally caught a break once it’d moved to Netflix. However, word’s come in that the project had hit a major setback at the streaming service: it’s no longer happening there.
Per Variety, Masters of the Universe is officially dead at Netflix. According to sources who spoke with the publication, the streamer had shelled out close to $30 million on development costs and to keep talent attached to it, like actor Kyle Allen, who’d been tapped to play He-Man, and directors Adam and Aaron Nee. Other sources claim that twice that figure had been poured into development. Ultimately there Netflix brass decided to scrap Masters of the Universe over “budget concerns.”
This is the latest bout of misfortune for a project that’s been in development for nearly two decades and had previously been housed at two other studios, Warner Bros. Pictures and Sony Pictures. Netflix has previously given the Masters of the Universe reboot a $200 million budget, and production was expected to begin this past February. While Netflix did get hit by a stock drop in the spring that saw its value drop by $50 billion, and supposedly this drop didn’t have anything to do with the budget issues on Masters of the Universe, eventually a point was reached where the streamer wasn’t willing to give more than $150 million to the project.
The Nee brothers did reportedly try to find a way to keep Masters of the Universe going at Netflix, which included getting the budget down to $180 million and even tossing around the option of shooting this movie and a promised sequel back-to-back to lower costs a bit. Ultimately though, a middle ground wasn’t reached, though Netflix is said to be “enamored” with the directors. Producer Todd Black reportedly went to Universal Pictures to see if it was interest in acquiring Masters of the Universe, but the studio wasn’t interested. So as of this moment, the reboot is in a precarious position.
However, that could change with the release of Barbie this weekend, as Masters of the Universe is another Mattel-owned property. There’s a lot of positive chatter surrounding the Margot Robbie-led movie from online reactions and reviews, and it it ends up doing well at the box office, that could entice studios to give Masters of the Universe another look. That said, it’s unclear if Kyle Allen and the Nee brothers will stay on, as the former could end up moving projects, and the latter duo could become too busy from their reported deal with Universal to make hybrid live-action/animated movies for the LEGO franchise.
If Masters of the Universe ends up finding another studio home, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, Netflix subscribers aren’t lacking for He-Man content to watch, as the animated shows Masters of the Universe: Revelation and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (the one that premiered in 2021) can be streamed there. There’s also a follow-up for the former series on the way called Masters of the Universe: Revolution.
