“Masters of the Universe”
Netflix is pulling the plug on He-Man live-action adaptation
He-Man should be getting a live action movie on Netflix (here’s a still from the animated series “Masters of the Universe – Revelation”).
©Netflix
For years, a planned He-Man adaptation has been simmering in Hollywood’s development hell. Even with Netflix, the project is not becoming a reality.
The planned live-action He-Man adaptation of Netflix should be history. The toy figure He-Man is already represented on the Californian streaming service with the animated series “Masters of the Universe – Revelation” and “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe”. Now the popular muscle man should also be brought to life in a live-action film. It would be the second since “Masters of the Universe” with Dolph Lundgren (65) from 1987.
With young star Kyle Allen (28) and the director duo Adam Nee (42) and Aaron Nee, the most important participants in front of and behind the camera were already certain. But now Netflix should according to “Variety” pulled the plug on the project. Several insider sources report this to the US industry journal.
Development costs of 30 million US dollars
The He-Man live-action adaptation has been simmering in what is known as Hollywood’s development hell since 2007. Directors and screenwriters like McG (54) or David S. Goyer (57) came and went. “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” star Noah Centineo (27) was set to star before Kyle Allen. The rights migrated from the Warner Bros. film studio via Sony to Netflix. A total of almost 30 million US dollars (equivalent to around 26.8 million euros) are said to have flowed into the development of the “Masters of the Universe” live adaptation. Other sources have reported to Variety that the figure has doubled.
Filming is scheduled to start in February next year with Allen as the lead and directors Adam and Aaron Nee. But with a budget of over $200 million, which includes the development costs mentioned, the streaming service Netflix apparently got cold feet. There was no comment from the toy manufacturer Mattel, which holds the rights to the character He-Man and its world, nor from Netflix.
According to “Variety”, it is conceivable that another studio or another streaming service will take over the project and still implement it. But in this case, the previous development costs would in all probability have to be borne to a large extent, which would increase the budget enormously from the start of the production phase.