Masters of the Universe is still up in the air if you can believe that and at this point it’s uncertain as to whether Sony is going to give the whole thing over to Netflix or if they’re going to try and find someone that can help out with the project. As Kevin Burwick of MovieWeb mentions there have been a lot of names attached to this idea in the past decade and more and at this point it’s kind of hard to see just when it might be coming out, or if it will if no one wants to touch it. At this time it might not even be worth the trouble to Netflix since honestly the idea to bring it back has been so long in coming that one might believe that it should have happened at this point. Ironically He-Man and everything that came with him was out to the public before She-Ra was ever mentioned, and yet she’s been given a show on Netflix while he’s been languishing in development hell just waiting for someone to pick up the story. Both stories deserve a great deal of development and to be brought into the mainstream again, but at this point it’s been difficult trying to guess just where He-Man is going to land and whether or not the movie is even going to be worth the effort.
As a kid the Masters of the Universe cartoon and even the movie were considered to be great since they were the epitome of He-Man and the allies and villains that went with him. It’s kind of hard to see how this idea is being held up considering that people want to see it, will pay to see it, and might only want to see He-Man and his buddies upgraded enough so that they don’t look as though they just stepped out of the 80s. Maybe it has more to do with the fact that the Dolph Lundgren version was kind of a flop and didn’t exactly hew to the standard of the original cartoon. It does seem to be a massive issue that’s been seen time and time again that those making the movies can’t keep true to the source material nearly enough to deliver on what the fans are expecting. This has been a constant theme throughout many movies and even genres throughout the years. It’s great that directors want to practice innovation and creativity, it’s what keeps Hollywood going after all, but now and again there are stories that people would like to see stick as close to the source material as possible, but this rarely seems to happen. Anyone remember the Masters of the Universe movie that came out decades ago? There were really only a few things that managed to stay in line with the cartoon, and the rest was just a giant cluster of nonsense that didn’t seem to really stick to the script.
It’s a big hope that if this resurgence of the story does finally come to fruition that it would stick closer to the script this time and deliver on the promise that we didn’t get a while back. It’d also be nice to see it be CGI or possibly live-action, but at this point a lot of people are likely going to be happy with getting something no matter what it is. Some might wonder why and how She-Ra, who is Prince Adam’s twin sister Adora, managed to get a series before he did, but that’s a long conversation about how a woman needed to find her own destiny since originally it was He-Man that made her aware of who she was. And as we know in this era, and as Leah Marilla Thomas of Bustle has stated, a woman being empowered is all about her finding her own destiny and not relying so much on a man, so the short explanation of the whole thing is that she doesn’t need him. Yes, even the cartoons have become empowered and ‘woke’ in a way that reminds men that women don’t need them for everything. But it’d be great if when He-Man does come out if we could skip the gender politics and just enjoy the story.
As of now it’s uncertain as to whether Sony is going to give Netflix the chance to develop this property, or if Netflix even wants the property since it’s been stuck for so long without any real decisive moves being made to finish it up. It seems like a risk for Sony to let go of it and it seems like a risk for anyone to take it on since despite being a great and recognized story with a lot of potential, it’s also something that seems to come with a heavy burden that a lot of people aren’t ready to shoulder.
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