Lone Ranger and Pirates of the Caribbean co-writer Terry Rossio has been hired to bring the power back to Grayskull to scribe Columbia Pictures’ Masters of the Universe.
A long time before Michael Bay turned Hasbro’s bestselling toys into a billion dollar movie franchise, Mattel brought He-Man to the big screen in the shape of the 1987 Dolph Lundgren starer. Today the movie might fall into the ‘so bad it’s good’ category if you’re feeling generous, but truth be told there is very little that’s redeemable about it and even Dolph struggles to be taken seriously wearing a pair of leather underpants and rocking a mullet.
For those who don’t remember the cartoon series or toy range, Masters of the Universe takes place on the magical planet of Eternia where Prince Adam defends the realm against the evil Skeletor and his army, using the Sword of Power he becomes the powerful He-Man. If you thought Clark Kent’s disguise of a pair of glasses was unlikely to prevent people knowing his true identity, He-Man stripping down to a pair of brief to thwart evil isn’t exactly subtle. I think somewhere deep down the inhabitants of Eternia knew that He-Man was Prince Adam, they just didn’t have the heart to tell him.
Terry Rossio picks up where Predators writers Mike Finch and Alex Litvak left off with their previous draft, it’s unknown how much of their work will make it through Rossio’s pass but most of the movie is expected to take place on He-Man’s home world of Eternia.
G.I Joe Retaliation director Jon M Chu was attached to the film but he will be too busy stepping up to helm the next adventure for the Joes to journey to Eternia. Producers Steve Tisch, Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal are still on-board although production is still very much in the early stages of development. Given the success of Thor which did an excellent job of making what could have been a very silly movie into something credible, a live action Masters of the Universe could actually work. Point of fact nobody involved in Thor is working on this but the principle still stands.