Exclusive: Masters Of The Universe Live-Action Movie In The Works At Netflix
We've exclusively learned of Netflix's plans for a live-action Masters of the Universe project.
Update: This Giant Freakin Robot exclusive was confirmed by Deadline and other sources that a live-action Masters Of The Universe movie was in development.
The He-Man franchise has a history full of highs and lows, but despite those lows, studios keep coming back trying for more. A new animated series has just hit Netflix. Noah Centineo has dropped out as He-Man for Sony’s live-action film, which they’ve been working on for more than a decade. Now, we have exciting new information on the future of the franchise. Thanks to some work from one of our trusted and proven inside sources, Giant Freakin Robot has learned that a live-action Masters of the Universe is in the works at Netflix.
Everything we’ve heard from our source makes it sound like Netflix is ready to get this live-action movie right once and for all. The new script has put a lot more work into developing He-Man/Prince Adam. While he’s an easy character to make overly simple, just a hero fighting for good against ultimate evil, audiences still want an interesting character that’s fun to watch. Netflix’s live-action Masters of the Universe sounds like it is moving forward with the understanding that they’re going to need a good take on that character and on the story.
We’ve heard Netflix moved through multiple scripts before settling on the right idea for Masters of the Universe. The new story for their take will be better developing Prince Adam’s motivations and personal connections to Skeletor, the ultimate bad guy for He-Man. It’s also going to do more to develop the relationship between Prince Adam and Teela, giving a more rich romantic subplot than we’ve seen for our main character in the past.
The basic story for He-Man iterations is this: He-Man fights Skeletor. He’s a “being of utter evil”, and He-Man is the only figure around brave enough and good enough to lift the Sword of Power and take the monster on. The original live-action movie tried hard to bring complicated fantasy worlds to life, visiting the planet Eternia, but the visual effects of the time weren’t up to taking on the story they had for Masters of the Universe. Today, Netflix is a studio that’s been putting healthy budgets behind its projects. Hopefully, that means they’ll have the budget to do a live-action film right.
He-Man was a popular figure when he was only a toy from Mattel in the early 1980s, before there were ever any movies or series to watch. The animated television series from the mid-1980s is beloved by fans today. However, the 1987 movie, Masters of the Universe, was bizarre and turned many off from the franchise for a while. Hopefully, Netflix has taken some notes on what didn’t work for the Dolph Lundgren live-action film so they can create something better for fans today.
With the animated series, audiences enjoyed a varied cast of characters and rich fantasy world-building. The new animated series for Netflix from Kevin Smith, Masters of the Universe: Revelation, looks wild. The trailer hints that it understands the audience it’s serving, with colorful visuals, a clear storyline, and interesting characters. Hopefully, Netflix will be getting minds on board with the same understanding of the franchise. If their new animated series does well, it should serve to help bring in an excited audience for their live-action take. This is one more example of how Netflix is moving forward working to take established intellectual property and breathe new life into franchises for the modern streaming service. It will be interesting to see if they can make a live-action He-Man that gets it right this time.
