Report: He-Man Film, Masters of the Universe, Removed From Sony’s Film Schedule

JB Augustine |

Jan 27, 2020

A new report spells trouble for Sony’s Masters of the Universe motion-picture revival. He-Man, the Prince of Eternia, lost his slot on the schedule yet again.

Hollywood Reporter writer Aaron Couch said on Twitter the movie “has been taken off the calendar.” Uncharted, the adaptation of the popular game series (also from Sony) starring Tom Holland, has taken its place.

Sony has moved #Uncharted back 3 months. It now opens 3/5/2021. Masters of the Universe has been taken off the calendar (it previously occupied Uncharted’s new date)

— Aaron Couch (@AaronCouch) January 25, 2020

Sony acquired the film rights to He-Man in 2009 and has tried to get a movie made ever since with several different directors. David Goyer was attached but left due to the budget. It passed through the hands of Jon Chu and McG too with zero luck.

He-Man

Fantasy Island director Jeff Wadlow pitched the studio in 2014 on making He-Man humorous and “irreverent” but they weren’t in touch with where he was going, he told Collider in 2018:

“I had a really irreverent take on Masters of the Universe, and the studio, at the time, was very focused on a Game of Thrones/Lord of the Rings take. I love He-Man. I still have all my original figures from the ‘80s. That’s how I got the job. I brought them in and put them on the table and was like, ‘This is why I’m a director!’ I wrote a scene where Prince Adam meets Ram Man and says to him, ‘So, they call you Ram Man, huh?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah.’ And he goes, ‘Do you like that name?’ And Ram Man goes, ‘I’m owning it.’ So, there was an irreverence to it, but at the time, that just didn’t gel with what they wanted to do.

“It’s interesting now, with Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy. I think that’s sort of what I was trying to do, but either I was too early or they just never saw it that way. That’s the weird thing about making movies in the studio system. You can have a take and a real point of view, but if it doesn’t line up with the point of view of the people who are writing the checks, it doesn’t matter.”

Masters of the Universe was bumped around a lot. Slated earlier in the process for release last December, Masters of the Universe was moved to a March 5, 2021, release when it was deemed unready for 2020.

This doesn’t entirely mean Sony is aborting the project after all this time, but many are led to believe the movie is off or it might get passed on somewhere else, at best.

He-Man

Netflix is the prime candidate, again according to THR, since the streaming giant already hosts She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Soon it will be home to the sequel series developed by Fatman Beyond duo Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin along with Powerhouse Animation, Masters of the Universe: Revelation.

According to What’s on Netflix, Revelation is expected to premiere this summer at the earliest. Robert David (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) will executive produce.

Based on the popular He-Man toys from Mattel, the Masters of the Universe reboot would have opened against another franchise preparing for a cinematic comeback, Mortal Kombat.

Star Noah Centineo who was to play the lead part, Prince Adam/He-Man – and who has a connection to Netflix too through To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before – was excited to start filming. He spoke with MTV at last year’s Movie Awards about how different the experience was going to be and had only good things to say about the new directing team, Adam and Aaron Nee:

“It’s a really big responsibility… It’s a big opportunity and I feel more than ready to tackle it.

“It’s a new universe and it’s a new studio and their take on a universe. The Nee brothers, Adam and Aaron Nee, they’re directing it, and they’re the filmmakers in charge of the story, and they are doing one hell of a job developing the world and all these things, so. I can’t tell you what tone they’re going for, but they’re genius, so.”

He-Man