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As the domestic theater going audience approaches the 4th of July holiday weekend, the new "Masters of the Universe" live-action movie has already lost a great deal of its theatrical footprint in cinemas across the country (and around the world). With likely only a few more weeks left in its theatrical run, here is where the box office gross tally currently stands for the new He-Man movie: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (2026) Worlwide Box office Gross Domestic (57%)$62,702,953 International (43%)$47,388,342 Worldwide$110,091,295 With a crowded release schedule, the impact of the upcoming holiday weekend will probably be minimal for "Masters of…
We have the Power!
Only time will tell, but in any case, this film is a miracle to me, especially after several decades of trying to make it happen. Basically, the box office can't tell the difference between a good and a bad movie. All it can do is give you numbers. And for me, that's not the point.
I'm glad after decades of hearing about a film coming since discovering the .org and "John Woo" scoop to all the false starts that we finally got the movie and it's a wonderful movie at that. It's a bittersweet experience though since it doesn't seem to of resonated with the wider audience and the prospect of follow ups seems slim.
I love the film. I've seen it multiple times now and the past 15 months or so discovering ForEternia and interacting with everyone here have been cool as hell and really made the whole experience special!
I'm curious to see how streaming and the home video market swings things. Interesting to see in this big summer blockbuster season MOTU wasn't the only victim. A new Spielberg UFO movie stumbled and now Supergirl is bombing while Minions, Toys and indie horror films boom!
I’m as bummed as anyone that this movie isn’t doing as well, it’s my now favorite movie of all time. It’s everything I ever wanted in a He-Man movie (except for no Cringer transformation!). I don’t know how you could have ended the movie any better with the fans, He-Man and Battlecat riding into their next adventure with the theme song playing.
I say that because I was finally able to get out of my “bummed” phase by asking myself this: If you had asked my 5 year old self 40 years ago that I’d get this movie that I’ve always wanted in 40 years with no guarantee of a sequel and would I take that deal? Absolutely. I still hold out hope that Amazon is truly telling us the truth in that this is a multi-faceted approach, with things like streaming and merchandise playing a huge role (and I think they will be happy with both). Cautiously optimistic that we may not be done yet!
Not to move around goalposts here, but I doubt think we’ve come to define movies a bit too much through box office. There’s a big online community, on Reddit etc, who treat this like horse races, with generous scoops of schadenfreude for the “losers” at times.
But who knows how much money some older classics have made? Sure, there were blockbusters, but did the beloved Flash Gordon make any money? Blade Runner didn’t. Many classics didn’t, but were very happy we have them.
It used to be that the most important things was, is it a good movie or not. Is it enjoyable. In that way, I gather it is a success!
We got an impossible movie made. We “cheated” the system by getting the corpos to create a movie about our action figures. Chalk one up for us!
Of course , it’s bittersweet, yes. We all would have liked the movie to connect with many more people. Maybe it’ll become a streaming cult favorite, a bit like the first one… it certainly can still contribute for MOTU to grow. Just not as much as we hoped.
There were some unforced errors by the movie studio and some of those involved in some of the advertising, a couple of the interviews, and some of the casting decisions like Wiig as Roboto which would lead to some people dismissing it before even watching.
The movie also would have been better received if they had stayed clear of the Earth element. Some people automatically thought it would like the 1987 movie. That was the number one complaint of that movie yet they still decided they needed it in there for this one, so they could do a fish out of water story.
Also, the movie really needed to come out 10 to 20 years ago when original MOTU fans had younger kids. It could have connected better to younger generations then.
I see about 90% positive feedback from people that have actually seen the film, but the problem is getting people in theaters in the first place. For the reasons stated above, it was a battle.
I've seen it three times, so I did my part. I feel like a sequel is unlikely, but if we do get one, it will likely be a cheaper straight to Amazon one. Hopefully, it is at least a streaming success.
At least, I got another MOTU movie in my lifetime regardless of its future. For that, I am thankful.
There are so many parallels to the John Carter (of Mars) movie when it comes to MOTU '26.
Both movies cost roughly the same amount to produce, both movies featured relatively unknown main character actors, and both movies failed to recoup their investments. Additionally, these movies had confusing or misleading ads and promos leading up to the release which did not capture potential audience attention.
As a fan of both Masters of the Universe and the Barsoom Chronicles, this almost feels personal!
Regardless, the critics are gonna be critics and the advertisers are going to have misses. I don't like to dwell on the box office earnings (even though that is the number one indicator of a successful movie) and prefer to focus on whether or not I actually enjoy the film.
With MOTU '26, that answer is a resounding YES!
Of course no movie is perfect and in the case of MOTU, there was absolutely no way the moviemakers could have pleased everyone - especially the younger audiences (and, to a degree, the hardcore fan-audience who had very specific expectations).
Amazon / MGM has deep pockets. I am holding out hope that they have a lot more planned for this franchise. Whether that be theatrical, streaming, or otherwise... I am remaining optimistic. 😎
>>>The Power of the Good and the Way of the Magic!<<<
I unfortunately don't think we're going to see a follow-up to this movie, unless it happens to do really well on streaming. I just don't think it had the right hook for general audiences.
As someone brand new to He-Man, my perspective at its initial announcement a few months ago was "oh, that old 80s show is getting a generic Hollywood movie." To me, the trailers felt like typical blockbuster tropes with a different skin.
After I started watching the original series to prepare for the movie, I got more excited at the idea of seeing the cast from the show on the big screen! But, my expectations were still a bit tampered knowing that they'd be squeezed into Hollywood's formulas.
Stuff like the Mario and Minecraft movies have very large and younger-skewing fanbases that are big enough to make a huge financial splash, even if the movies themselves aren't great and feel Hollywood-ized. That's sadly the issue Masters of the Universe faced: the fanbase wasn't big enough, so to make a profit, it would need to attract outsiders, which it didn't do.
What should Amazon have done instead? I don't know. The final movie isn't bad by any means, but I think it needed to have something fresh for not just He-Man, but for blockbusters in general, to draw in a crowd. Still cool that we got the movie at all, though!
I'm so glad I got to see this before they probably take it out of theaters
@battlecat327 this is tied with Superman, Ghostbusters and The Mummy for my favorite movie.
Only time will tell, but in any case, this film is a miracle to me, especially after several decades of trying to make it happen. Basically, the box office can't tell the difference between a good and a bad movie. All it can do is give you numbers. And for me, that's not the point.
Sadly its for those greenlighting sequels. Even for movies that where never supposed to get one. See Joker; everyone involved made it adamantly clear that this is a single one-time movie. No sequels; no tie ins. One and done. Also the lead does not do sequels. Then the boxoffice keept rolling and rolling and rolling and as far as I could tell everyone that watched Joker 2 wished they would had stayed as adamantly with the 'no sequel' stance.
Its just so gutwrenching with MOTU as basically everyone who saw it liked it and the cast seemed to be fired up for the ride.
Was it the age rating? 'Less than 4% under 12' is kinda logical if the rating is at or above that age. Although this is a rare occurence where I agree with the rating.
@battlecat327 this is tied with Superman, Ghostbusters and The Mummy for my favorite movie.
These are all in my top 10, great picks!
Said it before and I’ll say it again here: the movie should’ve been animated. Animated films will always have a chance to pull in a much younger audience and on top of that we would’ve entirely avoided all of the Marvel comparisons. MOTU 2026 did feel a lot like the greatest hits from the superhero films that have been slowly dying at the box office. On top of that it might’ve been slightly cheaper to animate. I know many modern animated films have increased dramatically in cost, but that might be saved them a few million at least. An animated film also would’ve been infinitely easier to spin-off into an animated TV series on Amazon.
Some franchises don’t work well in live action and I think MOTU is one of them. Warcraft, Warhammer are a couple others. The worlds are to fantastic to create properly in live action. It simply costs too much to create the sets and characters and a lot of it ends up being done in CGI.
I enjoyed MOTU 2026 and I am glad that I got to see a modern live action MOTU movie. It did a lot right. However, I was predicting it would only do about $150 million worldwide. It will likely fall short of that. Here’s hoping that they’ll still move forward with a sequel of some kind, but at this point I’d love a fresh take on the series in animated form similar to 200x. Invincible, Batman and the Critical Role series have been doing numbers for Amazon and I reckon a more adult orientated MOTU show could do the same easily.
Jared Leto did a good job, but they should have hired a bigger name with less controversies than Leto. He was already known for a sketchy past before being hired. You couldn't use Skeletor to promote your own film.
I'd love to see a cartoon show spinoff, either a direct sequel or an inspired by one like Transformers Prime. If we are not getting a Revelation/Revolution part 3, this would be the next best thing.
@firefly Them casting a big name in the first place for the role of Skeletor confused me because the character had a CGI head and modulated voice. Anyone could've done it! It wasn't even recognizable as Jared Leto in the film!
If what I've heard about Leto being paid five million dollars to play the role is correct, that seems like a giant waste of budget. Casting a lesser-known actor who wouldn't cost as much, or a famous actor who could promote the film more like you suggested, would've been a much better choice for this specific role.
He did give a good performance in the film, but I'm certain that someone else could've matched it.
@smokinya I hadn't considered them doing this movie animated instead... if they did, they'd probably be way more comfortable doing a true adaptation of the show without the "going to Earth" shenanigans. Animation can allow for wacky things to be much more believable since we're already watching a "fake" world; in live-action, suspending that disbelief can be harder for some.
Animation can be cheaper to produce, but it all depends on how it's done. Disney and Pixar's budgets can match or even exceed films like this, while others like Sony and Illumination prioritize working with smaller $70-100M budgets. I could see them pulling off a pretty solid He-Man animated film for under $100M, maybe matching the production and vibes of Transformers One (which had a $75M budget). But, that movie also bombed, so who knows if that would've saved it at the box office...
Unfortunately, unless you're a Disney sequel/live-action remake, an adaptation of a popular video game, or Jurassic World, it's hard to guarantee box office success in this current climate. Some movies can pull it off, like the recent Project Hail Mary, but you have to find the right hook to get general audiences interested. As you said, this movie's trailers definitely felt "Marvel," and with Marvel movies in decline, that's not what you want to copy anymore!
@smokinya I hadn't considered them doing this movie animated instead... if they did, they'd probably be way more comfortable doing a true adaptation of the show without the "going to Earth" shenanigans. Animation can allow for wacky things to be much more believable since we're already watching a "fake" world; in live-action, suspending that disbelief can be harder for some.
Personally, I strongly feel like they could've just opened the movie with the Filmation opening, "I'm Adam, Prince of Eternia..." it was good enough to explain it to everyone as kids in the 80's, during the 200x era I didn't even get the full spiel and I was still all in on MOTU. I wouldn't be surprised if the Earth sequences were entirely driven by executives. I mean clearly Adam knows where he came from, I'm surprised someone didn't lock him up as a kid for being so lost in this "fantasy" world.
I don't know if animation would've made the film a bigger success, but I do think it would've had a much better chance of succeeding if it was. Hopefully we get a new series soon that we can all enjoy. Over 20 years later and 200X is still the best MOTU ever produced.
Its just so gutwrenching with MOTU as basically everyone who saw it liked it and the cast seemed to be fired up for the ride.
Was it the age rating? 'Less than 4% under 12' is kinda logical if the rating is at or above that age. Although this is a rare occurence where I agree with the rating.
I think it was a mixture of many different factors... the biggest ones being the poor promotion and confusing ads (mixed with the information that the director and actors shared with reporters), and the fact that audiences still haven't recovered from the superhero fatigue that the industry created in past 15 years...
Even though MOTU '26 isn't specifically a superhero movie, that was the impression people got from the liberal borrowing from the GotG and the overall MCU vibes.
@firefly Them casting a big name in the first place for the role of Skeletor confused me because the character had a CGI head and modulated voice. Anyone could've done it! It wasn't even recognizable as Jared Leto in the film!
^^^This.
Just pick any secondary actor from any fantasy series on television and you're done. Leto was an unnecessary expense.
Over 20 years later and 200X is still the best MOTU ever produced.
This is highly subjective.
>>>The Power of the Good and the Way of the Magic!<<<
I wouldn't be surprised if the Earth sequences were entirely driven by executives. I mean clearly Adam knows where he came from, I'm surprised someone didn't lock him up as a kid for being so lost in this "fantasy" world.
It's a huge trend in live-action fantasy movies right now; I can think of Thor and Sonic the Hedgehog off the top of my head. My only ideas for why they do it are to 1) cut down on budget since they don't need CGI/custom sets or 2) to help "ground" the movie for general audiences instead of being full fantasy.
It can have varying degrees of success; me personally, while I wish the movie didn't go to Earth, I actually found the scenes there to be some of the most entertaining, and it didn't overstay its welcome. One of the better uses of the trend, but I still wish the trend didn't exist!
Even though MOTU '26 isn't specifically a superhero movie, that was the impression people got from the liberal borrowing from the GotG and the overall MCU vibes.
Yeaaaaah, unfortunately the superhero fatigue can expand to any movie that looks like a Marvel movie. The MCU tackled so many types of movies, from traditional superheroes to space bounty hunters to magic wizards, that this take on He-Man's world with the spaceships and quippy dialogue can start to blend in with it. It's going to be a hard hurdle for blockbuster movies to overcome unless they have a clearly distinct style that doesn't look like the rest of the MCU, or it's one of the big superheroes like Superman or Spider-Man.
@ornclown I can understand not enjoying the animation style, but the stories were much more detailed than anything MOTU has done before until Revelation/Revolution. We had overarching season narratives, fleshed out the lore of a lot of the characters. Got a much better look at the world of Eternia as a whole. On top of that quite a bit of MOTU lore that has been used since (Classics bios for example) borrow heavily from the lore that was established with 200x. It also played a big role in reviving the brand. It is arguably one of, if not the most important thing in MOTU other than its original rendition in the 80's.
@ornclown I can understand not enjoying the animation style, but the stories were much more detailed than anything MOTU has done before until Revelation/Revolution. We had overarching season narratives, fleshed out the lore of a lot of the characters.Got a much better look at the world of Eternia as a whole.
This isn't entirely true.
Thirteen years prior, New Adventures had some of the most detailed and character-driven narratives in all of MOTU. It also had multi-episode story arcs and chronological details that were referenced at several points throughout the series.
Additionally, New Adventures -as a series- has a complete beginning, middle, and end to the entire plot. Even though the story is crafted to allow for more exploration (with Skeletor and Crita escaping), the overarching story has a satisfying, albeit somewhat rushed, conclusion.
However, if we are looking solely at Eternia, I agree that MYP is more detailed than the Filmation show. But, much of the lore found in 200X is built on the foundations that Filmation established.
On top of that quite a bit of MOTU lore that has been used since (Classics bios for example) borrow heavily from the lore that was established with 200x. It also played a big role in reviving the brand. It is arguably one of, if not the most important thing in MOTU other than its original rendition in the 80's.
Again, this area can be both subjective and polarizing.
I personally do not like the idea of Skeletor being Randor's brother. Having He-Man fight Uncle Keldor lessens the stakes when it's "all in the family."
Plus, many original MOTU fans prefer the idea of Skeletor being an inter-dimensional being seeking the power of Castle Grayskull.
The 200X figure line was certainly an important watermark in in MOTU, however, I would attribute the Masters of the Universe Classics as being slightly more important in the grand scheme. Since it was not a retail line, it couldn't outright fail like 200X and therefore had to be supported by the fanbase to live on.
Because of the toyline was dependent on said fan support, Classics really showed the rest of the industry the power of the brand... Classics was able to achieve more than 200 distinct characters from all eras of MOTU. (Closer to 300 if you count beasts, mounts, vehicles, and repaints.) Moreover, the bios that you mentioned helped coalesce all of these eras into one cohesive narrative (for better or for worse...)
>>>The Power of the Good and the Way of the Magic!<<<
This isn't entirely true.
Thirteen years prior, New Adventures had some of the most detailed and character-driven narratives in all of MOTU. It also had multi-episode story arcs and chronological details that were referenced at several points throughout the series.
Additionally, New Adventures -as a series- has a complete beginning, middle, and end to the entire plot. Even though the story is crafted to allow for more exploration (with Skeletor and Crita escaping), the overarching story has a satisfying, albeit somewhat rushed, conclusion.
However, if we are looking solely at Eternia, I agree that MYP is more detailed than the Filmation show. But, much of the lore found in 200X is built on the foundations that Filmation established.
Honestly, I've never watched NA. And I've never felt the need to despite watching and owning all other renditions of MOTU. Based on my experiences online it seems like it had pretty lukewarm reception overall with MOTU fans. I was on the Org during the Classics era pretty heavily with a different account name (wasn't able to recover my account in 2019 when I got back into MOTU collecting) and NA always had a vocal fanbase, but it was clear to me that it is the least loved version of MOTU across most of the fans. Those who loved NA really loved NA, but those who didn't seemed indifferent or wished we got a different release on occasion (speaking about Classic's figures here).
I'll take your word for it though and I probably should check out NA for the hell of it.
Again, this area can be both subjective and polarizing.
I personally do not like the idea of Skeletor being Randor's brother. Having He-Man fight Uncle Keldor lessens the stakes when it's "all in the family."
Plus, many original MOTU fans prefer the idea of Skeletor being an inter-dimensional being seeking the power of Castle Grayskull.
The 200X figure line was certainly an important watermark in in MOTU, however, I would attribute theMasters of the Universe Classicsas being slightly more important in the grand scheme. Since it was not a retail line, it couldn't outright fail like 200X and therefore had to be supported by the fanbase to live on.
I really enjoyed the Keldor storyline, but I can admit I might be biased since it was my original introduction to MOTU. I feel it does the exact opposite of lowering the stakes and makes things more personal.
From my understanding 200X failed because Mattel was pumping out too many color variants of characters instead of giving us Marzo, (proper) Moss Man, Webstor, etc. And due to the fact that there were huge supply issues for figures. I remember driving all over the city with my mom and calling local Zellers to see if they had figures like Evil-Lyn and what not since there was only usually 1-2 figures in a box of He-Man's and Skeletor's. Mattel killed the line and that sucks.
However, I would argue that without the 200X line and the revived interest in MOTU from the OG fanbase that Classic's might not have happened. Especially since the 4HM were involved in Classics as well to design the figures. Classic's will probably be the most complete MOTU line of all time (with Origin's being a close second that could surpass it), but 200X certainly paved the way for it. I never even would've known about the toyline if the 200X DVD's didn't have an ad inside for the figures.
Moreover, the bios that you mentioned helped coalesce all of these eras into one cohesive narrative (for better or for worse...)
The Classic's bio's had a lot of hits and misses. I appreciate what they tried to do, but some of it fell flat on its face lol.
Honestly, I've never watched NA. And I've never felt the need to despite watching and owning all other renditions of MOTU. Based on my experiences online it seems like it had pretty lukewarm reception overall with MOTU fans. I was on the Org during the Classics era pretty heavily with a different account name (wasn't able to recover my account in 2019 when I got back into MOTU collecting) and NA always had a vocal fanbase, but it was clear to me that it is the least loved version of MOTU across most of the fans. Those who loved NA really loved NA, but those who didn't seemed indifferent or wished we got a different release on occasion (speaking about Classic's figures here).
I'll take your word for it though and I probably should check out NA for the hell of it.
It was a strange time for MOTU fans back in 1989 / 1990.
The world was changing: animation techniques had grown exponentially, children's interests were shifting, and Filmation fans were growing up.
If you weren't on top of all the news and cartoon broadcasts, New Adventures of He-Man would have been either a big surprise or missed altogether. These were the days before the internet. When word-of-mouth, collector's magazines, newsletters, and chance encounters at the toy store were where we found out about the newest obsessions in the lives of fans.
I explained in another thread on these forums that my older brother and I were infatuated with this new thing called Japanimation (anime) that was just starting to make its way to America. As such, when I sat down to watch New Adventures for the first time, I was blown away that my He-Man, the guy whose adventures consumed my elementary years, was now all "grown up," edgy, and portrayed in a cool anime-style!
I was hooked from day one.
However, I will be the first to admit that NA can be an acquired taste. It is a radical shift from the fantasy / barbarian world - where now everything is more high-tech and sci-fi. Additionally, many of the characters we became attached to as kids are completely absent. (This says nothing about the jarring change in the action figures at the time as well...)
So, if 200X was your first foray into the world of MOTU, I can totally see how NA would be low on the priority list. Although, I would still recommend checking it out.
Give it a few episodes before coming to a personal consensus.
For me, the animated world of MOTU moves in chronological order from:
Filmation / MYP (200X is a retelling/reinterpretation) -> Princess of Power -> New Adventures -> Revelation -> Revolution
Anyway, long story short, check out NA... you might find something that draws you in. And, you might see why I want Mondo to make their next 1:6 He-Man a New Adventures version! 🙂
>>>The Power of the Good and the Way of the Magic!<<<