With a He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and a Masters of the Universe: Revelation TV series out on Netflix, it’s time to finally ask the question: what about the live-action movie we’ve been waiting on for so long? That’s exactly what Collider’s own Steve Weintraub asked film directors Aaron Nee and Adam Nee during an interview for their latest movie, The Lost City.
In the interview, Steve reveals what pretty much all of us have felt for a long time, and tells the duo of directors that he’s been waiting for a good Masters of the Universe movie since he was a kid, so the upcoming action-adventure starring legendary character He-Man (who will be played by Kyle Allen) has a lot of expectations to meet. Luckily for Steve (and all of us), the Nees stated that they feel the very same way:
“Yeah, we are [doing the film] and we plan on it being good. […] There’s some stuff we can’t talk about in terms of the approach, but it’s all happening, it’s all moving in the right direction. But in terms of approach it’s like… We just want to make a 'Masters [of the Universe]' that feels the way it did to us when we were kids. It’s this “empowerment” that you get from the fantasy of it, but also colorful, vibrant, fun and irreverent. Like you can’t have characters like Snout Spout and Ram Man without having some jokes in there. So we just want to make a really fun ‘Masters of the Universe’ film.”
Another bit of information revealed by the Nees is that we’ll still have to wait a bit longer before we can see first-look images or even a trailer, because they probably will only start rolling the cameras in 2023. At the same time, Aaron Nee stated that there is a good reason for that, because they are studying and brainstorming ways to give the story the scale it deserves. Finally, Adam Nee teased exciting news that's about to be revealed in the coming months, and we’ll be able to see that the long-awaited adaptation is being done right.
From this interview, it seems that the Nees understand that a Masters of the Universe movie is a tall order of nostalgia, and it’s necessary to find a balance between what the show was and how we respond to movies today. Snout Spout, which the directors refer to directly, is a warrior with a comically big elephant trunk. In addition, original Masters of the Universe episodes featured an epilogue in which super-hero He-Man talked directly to children to explain the themes of the episodes and that the villains were wrong. So the challenge will be to find a balance between the story’s classic and even cheesy elements and the huge-scale blockbuster storytelling that guarantees a long life to a franchise.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was originally developed as a tie-in to a Mattel toy line of superheroes. The animated series ran for two seasons between 1983 and 1985. However, each season consisted of 60+ episodes, which was more than enough to generate a huge fanbase across several countries that still love He-Man, She-ra and other characters to this day. In 1987, a live-action version of the series was released starring Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Frank Langella as super-villain Skeletor, but it was poorly received by fans and critics alike.
Previously Robbie Brenner, executive producer of Mattel Films said:
“Masters of the Universe is an iconic property that shaped the imaginations of an entire generation of kids with the message of becoming the best version of yourself. With our partners at Netflix, we look forward to showing audiences that anything can happen in Eternia. We are continuing to unlock this global franchise in new ways, and we can’t wait to see Kyle battle it out with Skeletor in this epic live-action saga."
The Masters of the Universe live-action movie is tentatively slated for a 2024 release on Netflix.