Masters of the Universe opened to mostly positive reviews (68% on Rotten Tomatoes) and an enthusiastic response from He-Man fans. Unfortunately, that didn't translate to ticket sales, and the movie sits squarely in "flop" territory after making only $103 million since opening on June 5.
There is some hope for fans, though, as Amazon could choose to forge ahead with a sequel if the reboot does well on its streaming platform, Prime Video. If anything, that $100 million is a mere bonus for the company before Masters of the Universe joins its expanding streaming catalogue.
Still, the movie will lose money, and it's going to be tough to convince any executive to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a follow-up.
Original He-Man, Dolph Lundgren, recently spoke with ComicBook.com (via SFFGazette.com) and was asked to share his take on the movie's disappointing box office performance (the legendary actor makes a cameo appearance alongside Nicholas Galitzine).
"Yeah, I was a bit disappointed. I mean, everybody told me it’s going to do great," he said. "I’m not a huge believer in looking at the box office and that influencing how I feel that much emotionally about the picture. But I did think about it like, 'Oh, okay. That was strange that didn’t do better.'"
"And I don’t know why that is. They did a lot of marketing, they did a lot of press," Lundgren continued. "I was part of it, some of it. I don’t know where it’s at now; I mean, I think it did fairly well overseas as well. I’m not sure what that means really."
"Will Nick be signing swords for 40 years, like I have been? I don’t know. I mean, it’s hard to gauge movies by the box office as well," he added. "Sometimes you have a huge box office hit that becomes a classic, or sometimes it makes a lot of money, but nobody cares 20 years later. And there’s also the other one, the other version where it didn’t do that well, but people care a lot, you know, 50 years later."
What the future holds in store for Masters of the Universe remains to be seen. With Galitzine among those thought to be on Amazon's radar for the next James Bond, some have wondered whether his stint as He-Man was a means of opening the door to bigger and better things.
However, the movie ended by setting up a meeting between He-Man and his sister, She-Ra, so the potential is there to continue the story and explore more of Eternia down the line, if Amazon chooses to.
In Masters of the Universe, director Travis Knight brings the legendary franchise back to the big screen in this epic live-action adventure. After being separated for 15 years, the Sword of Power leads Prince Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) back to Eternia, where he discovers his home shattered under the fiendish rule of Skeletor (Jared Leto).
To save his family and his world, Adam must join forces with his closest allies, Teela (Camila Mendes) and Duncan/Man-At-Arms (Idris Elba), and embrace his true destiny as He-Man — the most powerful man in the universe.
The supporting cast includes Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn, Morena Baccarin as The Sorceress, James Purefoy as King Randor, Charlotte Riley as Queen Marlena, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Fisto, Kojo Attah as Tri-Klops, Sam C. Wilson as Trap Jaw, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Goat Man, Jon Xue Zhang as Ram-Man, Stephen Adentan as Moss Man, James Wilkinson as Mekaneck, and Kristen Wiig as Roboto.
Masters of the Universe is now playing in theaters.