Fans of He-Man and the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE have been waiting thirty-two years to see a new live action feature film (hopefully one a little closer to the source material and actually set primarily or entirely in Eternia) reach the big screen… and it looks like we're going to have a little while longer. Although a new film had been scheduled for release on December 18, 2019, its progress hit a speed bump when writer/director David S. Goyer decided to focus on other projects. Aaron Nee and Adam Nee, directors of the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn re-imagining BAND OF ROBBERS, were brought on to replace Goyer at the helm, and now new screenwriters have been hired to work with the Nees on a new draft of the script.
I don't trust that Goyer had a great vision for MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, so I feel that the more this project moves away from what he would have written and directed, the better. Goyer is still earning an executive producer credit on the film.
The new screenwriters are the duo of Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, whose previous credits include the very cool Marvel Comics adaptations IRON MAN and PUNISHER: WAR ZONE. (They also co-wrote TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT, but I gave up on the TRANSFORMERS movies a long time ago so I don't know how that one turned out.)
The MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE franchise revolves around
the conflict between the heroic He-Man (the most powerful man in the universe and the secret identity of Prince Adam), against the evil sorcerer Skeletor on the planet Eternia, with a vast line-up of supporting characters in a hybrid setting of medieval sword and sorcery and sci-fi technology.
The new film is being produced by Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch of Escape Artists, as well as DeVon Franklin.