UPDATE: Coming off yesterday’s 30-second teaser, here now is the first trailer for “Masters of the Universe,” Amazon/MGM’s live-action movie based on the classic ’80s toy brand. A full trailer will be released tomorrow.
I just have a bad feeling about this one, and that’s despite Travis Knight’s involvement — he’s the director behind “Kubo and the Two Strings” and “Bumblebee.”
This $200M-budgeted movie comes with red flags. A basic but crucial question looms: who is this actually for? Is it meant to appeal to kids, who have little to no connection to He-Man, or to adults who grew up with the toys and cartoon?
Anytime a film has this type of audience identity crisis, it’s worth flagging. A family movie needs clarity and accessibility, while a nostalgia-driven reboot has to justify its darker, more expensive approach. Right now, it’s unclear who “Masters of the Universe” is trying to satisfy. Is there even an audience large enough to care about this IP?
The story is described as follows: After 15 years apart, Prince Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) is guided back to Eternia by the Sword of Power, only to find his homeland in chaos under the tyrannical rule of Skeletor (Jared Leto). To protect his family and restore his world, Adam must team up with his loyal companions Teela (Camila Mendes) and Duncan/Man-At-Arms (Idris Elba) and embrace his destiny as He-Man, the universe’s most formidable hero.
Notice, Jared Leto is part of the cast — he’s become box office poison in recent years. It seems as though anything he’s attached to struggles to find an audience: from “Morbius,” which flopped, to “House of Gucci,” which underperformed, to “Tron: Ares,” which bombed. His involvement doesn’t automatically doom a film, of course, but in a high-stakes, $200M blockbuster like “Masters of the Universe,” it’s yet another gamble.
The film is set to be released theatrically in the U.S. on June 5 by Sony Pictures International Releasing.
The project was gaining steam in 2023, and then the WGA strikes hit, which deflated the entire thing. At the time, Austin Butler and Colin Farrell were in talks to star as the film’s two leads.