He-Man and his musclebound companions will finally return to the big screen in 2026 with Masters Of The Universe.
“I have the power!” was the memorable phrase that He-Man would cry in the 1980s animated TV show, Masters Of The Universe. A hugely popular Mattel line of toys for several years, the series eventually became a 1987 movie starring Dolph Lundgren.
He-Man’s power, it seems, hasn’t helped get a 21st century film about him into production. The long-gestating Masters Of The Universe movie has been in development at Warner Bros, Sony and Netflix in the recent past, with all three studios electing to pull the plug rather than give the green light to what is sure to be an expensive project.
Netflix was the most recent studio to put Masters Of The Universe into turnaround after spending a reported $30m developing it. The studio then couldn’t figure out how to make the film for less than $200m, and so a live-action take on He-Man and his colourful pals was eventually dropped last summer.
Then we heard that Amazon would be the next studio to take a crack at the project, and some months on, the studio clearly feels confident enough to place a date on the film while also naming its director. Masters Of The Universe will release through the studio’s MGM label on the 5th June 2026 and – confirming earlier reports – will be directed by Travis Knight, per Variety.
Knight is the director of the wonderful stop motion movie, Kubo And The Two Strings. He also pulled off the deceptively tricky job of making a watchable Transformers film with 2018’s Bumblebee. No casting has yet been announced, but we do have a synopsis to leave you with, and it seems the film will take us to Earth as well as the fantastical land of Eternia.
‘The story introduces a ten-year-old Prince Adam, who crashed to Earth in a spaceship and was separated from his magical Power Sword – the only link to his home on Eternia. After tracking it down almost two decades later, Prince Adam is whisked back across space to defend his home planet against the evil forces of Skeletor. But to defeat such a powerful villain, Prince Adam will first need to uncover the mysteries of his past and become He-Man: the most powerful man in the Universe!’
We’ll bring you more updates on Masters Of The Universe, including casting, as we hear it.
