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'Masters of the Universe' directors tease live-action film adaptation: 'It's being done right'
Filming probably won't begin until 2023, but only because the directors want to ensure that everything is perfect.
Sorry, Masters of the Universe fans, turns out you're going to have to wait just a smidge longer for that live-action movie. When Mattel and Netflix partnered up for the project (it originally began life at Sony) earlier this year, production was expected to kick off this summer. Now, cameras most likely won't get rolling until sometime next year, according to the movie's co-directors: Aaron and Adam Nee.
“We want to give this the scale that it deserves; get to have an Eternia that’s the Eternia we’ve been waiting for," the filmmakers explained to Collider in the interview below. "It’s a big one to get up and running, but it’s going great and we’re really excited … It’s huge and you guys will all hear some exciting things in the coming months that are happening with it. It’s very exciting and it’s being done right."
Kyle Allen, who recently starred in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of West Side Story, has been cast to play Prince Adam, aka He-Man (replacing Noah Centineo). The story begins with Adam living life as an orphan, who eventually embraces his destiny as the royal prince of a faraway land threatened by great evil.
David Callaham (Mortal Kombat, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) is penning the screenplay, with Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, and DeVon Franklin on board as producers. Robbie Brenner, executive producer of Mattel Films, will oversee the title's progress alongside Mattel Films VP, Kevin McKeon.
“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," Aaron and Adam continued during their conversation with Collider. "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.”
The Nees' latest big screen effort — The Lost City — ventures into theaters everywhere this coming Friday, March 25.
Netflix currently offers two original Masters of the Universe animated shows: Masters of the Universe: Revelation (Kevin Smith's follow-up to the original cartoon from the 1980s) and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (a CG reboot geared toward younger audiences).
