In Masters of the Universe, director Travis Knight brings the legendary franchise back to the big screen in this epic live-action adventure, directing the film from a screenplay by Chris Butler and Aaron Nee & Adam Nee & Dave Callaham, from a story by Aaron Nee & Adam Nee and Alex Litvak & Michael Finch, based on “Masters of the Universe” by Mattel.
Travis Knight was just a boy in 1982 when Mattel introduced Masters of the Universe toys to the world, followed by a daily after-school cartoon that had kids hurrying home every afternoon to see Prince Adam become He-Man by raising the Sword of Power aloft to declare: “By the power of Grayskull … I … Have … the POWER!!!”
Like the hero at the center of the story, Knight also cherished the memory of these extraordinary characters. The filmmaker behind the Oscar-nominated 2016 animated feature Kubo and the Two Strings, and producer of Laika Studios’ other stop-motion favorites Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls and Missing Link got to work on this new Masters of the Universe film with the same passion Adam has to revisit the magic of the long-ago world he once inhabited.
“This project really is a dream come true for me because I’ve known these characters for pretty much my entire life,” Knight says. “I watched the cartoons, I played with the toys, I read the comic books. It’s been oddly moving for me to see it all recreated in real life.”
Knight has a history of reviving nostalgic favorites, having directed Bumblebee, the 2018 solo film focused on the yellow-hued shapeshifting robot from the Transformers franchise. As a kid, his own collection of playthings—particularly the rough-and-tumble plastic heroes of Masters of the Universe—gave him his very first experiences crafting narratives and dramas on the floor of his bedroom.
“A beloved childhood toy is a vessel for a kid’s imagination,” Knight says. “They tell stories with them, and that was the case for me. I had all these action figures. I had the Castle Grayskull playset—which I loved—and I would create these little adventures in my mind with my He-Man action figures. To be here 40-some odd years later and do it for real is a trippy experience.”
While Knight wanted to have fun with the more offbeat parts of He-Man’s lore, he also took the epic storytelling seriously. “To try to do it justice has been a challenge,” he says. “I know that a lot of people love these characters and this world, and so there’s a lot riding on it. Our hope is that we can honor the history, and we can honor the things that the fans love, while also bringing new fans into the fold.”
The quest for power is universal. Everyone seeks it, but the ability to actually wield it well requires a different kind of inner strength.
That’s the primary difference between He-Man and Skeletor, the embodiments of good and evil whose never-ending conflict has made Masters of the Universe beloved for so many decades. The hero is determined to prove himself worthy of the “fabulous secret powers” locked away inside Castle Grayskull, a cosmic stronghold that serves as the nexus point for transformative otherworldly might, while the villain seeks only a shortcut to these abilities so he can enact tyrannical control over others.
Nearly a half century after this fantasy realm was first introduced in the early ‘80s by toymaker Mattel, Inc., a new big-screen cinematic adventure full of high-stakes action, mystical lore and no small amount of self-aware humor arrives in theaters to bring that classic Masters of the Universe battle back to fans.
Nicholas Galitzine stars as Adam, a galactic prince who was exiled as a child from his home planet of Eternia when the terrifying forces of Skeletor seized the throne from his noble parents. The castaway child grew up on Earth, clinging to hazy memories of the heroic warriors that he once knew. Most prominent among them were fellow young swordmaster trainee Teela (played by Camila Mendes), and her adoptive father Duncan (Idris Elba), who as leader of Royal Guard was known by the honorable title Man-at-Arms. There was also a ragtag assortment of fighters with unique abilities: a brawler with an indestructible metal hand (Adam thinks of him as “Fisto,”) a stout soldier who can batter through walls (Adam dubs him “Ram Man,”) a bionic man with with a periscope head (a.k,a, “Mekaneck.)”
From Page To Screen
Producer Jason Blumenthal (The Pursuit of Happyness, The Equalizer films) has been fighting to make this Masters of the Universe project for more than 17 years, and finally brought it to fruition alongside alongside his Escape Artist Entertainment partner Todd Black (a Best Picture Oscar nominee for 2016’s Fences), and Robbie Brenner, the president of Mattel Films (a Best Picture nominee for 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club.)
Blumenthal says that embracing the franchise’s colorful outlandishness was the key to finally making it work. “You have to have a sense of humor because some of it could play a little off the wall,” Blumenthal says. “A Masters of the Universe movie should understand the playfulness, understand that some of these characters have crazy names, and figure out a way to work that into the storytelling.”
Prince Adam’s evolution from awkward nobody to all-powerful He-Man is a lighthearted and adventurous take on the timeless hero’s journey. In many ways, he was modeled after the ancient mythology and folktales chronicled in the beloved book The Hero With a Thousand Faces, by legendary scholar Joseph Campbell, which documented the parallels in storytelling from cultures around the world. Like many who have set out for adventure before him, Adam is a young person who heeds the call to action and rises to face seemingly impossible challenges, eventually harnessing the power of Grayskull to become the legendary protector He-Man.
“It’s a story of self-acceptance, of becoming empowered, of realizing that power does not lie in anything else but yourself,” says Galitzine. “And along the way we meet these really eccentric, fantastical, funny characters who bestow on him different points of growth.”
Were these peculiar fighters he remembers from the royal palace all a dream? Adam’s earthling friends think so, urging him to let go of such wild delusions. But he can’t shed the sense that they were once real, that there must be a portal back to the world he remembers, and that he may contain hidden powers that could still be unlocked at the ominous gates of Castle Grayskull. Returning to Eternia would mean facing the skull-faced usurper Skeletor and his monstrous mercenaries: fiendish Beast Man, metal-toothed Trap Jaw, triple-eyed sniper Tri-Klops, and the sinister enchantress Evil-Lyn. Having longed for this return since childhood, Adam vows to do his best to restore the Eternia he remembers.
Unifying The Different Universes
Part of delivering for the fans was recognizing how many different types there are. Masters of the Universe has existed in many forms since its debut in the ‘80s, and the screenwriters of the new film drew on parts of virtually all of them for this script.
At the foundation were the original Mattel mini-comics that came packaged with the action figures, as well as the legendary 1983-85 syndicated after-school cartoon produced by Filmation. Among the other inspirations were the 1987 live-action cult-classic movie starring Dolph Lundgren as He-Man, and the 2002-2004 animated Masters of the Universe revival series on Cartoon Network that deepened the lore of the characters. Neftlix’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation had a strong influence as well, and the new film even found a way to sneak in an homage to the mega-popular mid-2000s viral video that featured He-Man and friends singing along to the 1993 4 Non Blondes anthem “What’s Up?”
“There’ve been so many iterations over the years, and each time it’s been slightly reinvented,” says screenwriter Chris Butler, an animation veteran who has worked on the scripts for ParaNorman, Kubo and the Two Strings and wrote and directed Missing Link. “So, as a fan, I’ve just taken the bits from each of those iterations that I’ve liked, really starting with the action figures and the Filmation series, and I’ve been able to pull that together into something new, hopefully.”
That also meant he and fellow Masters of the Universe screenwriters Aaron Nee and Adam Nee (2022’s The Lost City) and Dave Callaham (2023’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) wanted to not just tip their hats to the past but also add their own takes to the storyline. “You want to make it your own thing,” Butler adds. “We want to make this version of He-Man as original and exciting as possible.”
Among their changes was finding a way for Prince Adam to grow up far from Eternia and live a relatively normal life on Earth, so the wonder he feels toward his homeworld matches the surprise felt by the audience. “Anytime you have characters whose story goes back over 40 years, there’s going to be a bunch of variations of that thing,” Knight says. “The He-Man and Masters of the Universe in the early ‘80s is the one I always go back to, because that’s where it started. The Prince Adam and He-Man of the Filmation series was kind of like the Clark Kent-Superman dynamic. He put on a facade of someone who was timid, who was a little bit lazy, and then he becomes He-Man and we see a different side of him.”
The film’s challenge was to show this duality in the character without making Adam a faker, pretending to be a mild-mannered know-nothing. “One of the things I loved about the original series was it had a feeling of sincerity,” Knight says. “It wasn’t trying to be cool, it wasn’t trying to be ironic. There was a heart to Adam in how caring he was. Even in the guise of He-Man, he’s this big, muscle-bound dude in furry knickers, and he was still the kind of guy you wanted to introduce to your mom. He was just a nice guy.”
The film’s solution was to make sure Adam’s journey to He-Man was a true evolution, rather than a false identity or alter-ego. “A key part of how we shaped the character is that He-Man and Adam occupy the same body, but they’re different characters,” Knight says. “We tried to find ways to meld them with one another, so that Adam is still Adam when he’s He-Man, and we see tiny bits of He-Man in Adam when he’s not.”
That was also a lens for exploring the dynamics of power and strength, which made the toys so appealing to kids when they first debuted. “The central theme of the movie is about humanity,” Butler says. “Having Adam grow up and spend his formative years on Earth, he really gets to be human. And that’s what he takes back to Eternia.”
They also saw the humor in that scenario. “You’ve got this world full of warriors waiting for their chosen one to come back and save them all from Skeletor, and what comes back is not a warrior at all,” Butler adds. “That’s a fun thing to play with. And it also gives the character of Adam somewhere to go and some nuance.”
The Powerhouse Producing Team
Masters of the Universe was designed to be the kind of story everyone can relate to, whether they grew up with He-Man long ago or are still growing up now.
“That’s the all-ages audience that we’re after. People who grew up with the brand and just want to remember what it was like to be a kid. Kids want to escape into this world, male or female,” says Blumenthal. “I think there is something for everybody in this film. There’s a message, there’s empowerment, there is wish fulfillment, not just for young boys who grew up wanting to be He-Man, but for young girls who look at Teela and say, I wanna be like her.”
The film is also being produced by Brenner and Flamin’ Hot’s DeVon Franklin. As president of Mattel Films, Brenner says her goal was to bring the imagination and passion of the toys to the big screen. Masters of the Universe follows the company’s international blockbuster success with 2023’s Barbie, starring Margot Robbie as the iconic doll, which earned Brenner her second Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.
The two toy-inspired films are vastly different in tone, but draw on the same sense of nostalgia and affection. “This is our second movie that we’re making, and it’s a huge franchise. It’s the complete opposite of Barbie, yet I think it appeals to all audiences,” Brenner says. “People are waiting to see what Mattel Films does next, and this movie is going to be super exciting and unexpected.”
In adapting the new film Masters of the Universe’s creative team tried to honor what made the toys themselves such a phenomenon. “The original idea for the toy was the toy makers asking themselves: What does every kid want?” adds Butler. “And what every kid wants apparently is power, the power to be able to not be told what to do. We wanted to tap into that.”
The power “to not be told what to do” has another name: playtime. As the filmmakers set forth to cast and shoot Masters of the Universe, they embraced that sense of freedom and experimentation wholeheartedly.
Connections to the 1987 Cult Classic
Two other Skeletor acolytes in the new Masters of the Universe were drawn not from the original toyline or animated series, but directly from the 1987 live-action movie. Karg and Pigboy were two of the monstrous advisors to Frank Langella’s Skeletor in that earlier film, and in the new version they get another moment in the evil-doer spotlight.
Karg, played by Hung Dante Dong (a stunt performer from Doctor Strange and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,) is maniacal by nature but distinguished by his long, flowing locks. “He’s … well, how should I say it? He’s a crazy, crazy character,” Dong says. “But he does his hair every morning! So basically he goes from elegance and classiness to living for the fire.”
Despite Pigboy’s surly demeanor, this minion of Skeletor’s has a surprisingly heartwarming backstory. Mattel created the cameo role for the 1987 film as a prize for a young fan. Countless kids submitted their names to the drawing, and the role was ultimately won by then 8-year-old Richard Szponder of the Chicago area. Ever since, Pigboy has had a special place in Masters of the Universe lore.
“I’m such a nerdy fan of so many different things myself, so I get how important this source material can be to fans,” says Arun Bassi (School’s Out Forever), who took on the role of the porcine henchman in the new film. “Pigboy was made by Mattel for fans, so it was quite special for me to carry on into this new universe.”
Another important figure from the 1987 Masters of the Universe also makes an appearance in the new film: None other than He-Man himself, Dolph Lundgren, who shares a scene alongside Galitzine’s Adam as a surprisingly insightful weightlifter at the local gym.
The veteran actor’s other memorable roles include the Russian boxer Ivan Drago from Rocky IV and the title role of the vigilante in the 1989 Marvel Comics adaptation of The Punisher. He-Man remains one of Lundgren’s signature performances, however, and the entire team behind the new movie was eager to get him back onscreen as an homage.
“It’s kind of daunting that it’s been 38 to 39 years since I was last on Eternia,” Lundgren says. “It feels really cool to be back, though.”
Lundgren himself helped shape the role of the mysteriously wise man who gives Galitzine’s Adam crucial guidance and encouragement. It became a true passing of the torch between the performers. “The original cameo was something different. It wasn’t as much of a role model,” Lundgren says. “If I was going to be part of it, I wanted to make it special and make it something where the young He-Man could take the older He-Man’s words of wisdom with him, which he does now. And the director and producer liked my idea, so that’s what ended up in the script. ‘The muscles don’t make the man, kid.’ That’s what I’ve learned in my life.”
As an enduring fan of Masters of the Universe, Lundgren even said he was excited to watch the new version and see the various ways the original world of the toys and comics is brought to life. “Technology is so advanced now that you can make this a very interesting journey, more exciting than it was in 1986,” Lundgren says. “The reason Masters of the Universe has survived and has so many fans is the story has something really special about it. Something positive and inspiring, you know. It’s a very inspirational type of story, I think.”
Masters of the Universe History
- The “Masters of the Universe” toyline was created by Mattel and first introduced to the public in 1982. Each action figure came with a mini-comic that told a story from the fantasy world of Eternia.
- He-Man and Skeletor each came with half of the Sword of Power, which could be connected and used as a key to open the drawbridge mouth of Castle Grayskull.
- In September 1983, the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon was produced by Filmation. It aired after school, Monday through Friday, and was syndicated around the world. Each episode ended with a public service message from the characters.
- 130 episodes of the cartoon were created over the next two years. Some holiday specials were produced after that and the toys remained wildly popular for years to come.
- A girl-focused toyline, “She-Ra: The Princess of Power,” was introduced in 1984 as a companion piece to “Masters of the Universe.” Filmation made 93 episodes TV for a series based around her.
- A live-action “Masters of the Universe” movie was released by Cannon Films in 1987, starring Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Frank Langella as Skeletor.
- He-Man and the “Masters of the Universe” franchise was revived several times over the years. The New Adventures of He-Man cartoon aired in 1990, set in a futuristic world; and a 2002-2004 reboot returned focus to the original show’s fantasy realm of Eternia with more backstory about the origins of Skeletor and the different societies inhabiting that faraway planet.
- Clerks filmmaker Kevin Smith oversaw a revival called Masters of the Universe: Revelation for Netflix in 2021. Another CG animated series called He-Man and the Masters of the Universe reimagined the hero and his friends in a 2021-2022 series.
- The new film version of Masters of the Universe, directed by Travis Knight, draws from all the original source material to tell a story set in a fantasy kingdom where ancient magic and state-of-the-art technology blend together amid an epic struggle between good and evil.
TRAVIS KNIGHT (Director) is an award-winning filmmaker, producer and business executive who sits as the President & CEO of LAIKA. He served as lead animator on Coraline and held that position as well as producer on ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls. He was nominated for an Academy Award® and won the Visual Effects Society Award and BAFTA® Award for Best Animated Film for Kubo and the Two Strings, his directorial debut. Under his leadership, LAIKA has garnered worldwide distinction for its melding of the age-old craft of stop-motion with the most cutting-edge cinematic advances and manufacturing techniques. As a result, every LAIKA film has been Oscar®-nominated for Best Animated Feature. Travis made his live-action directorial debut in 2018 with Paramount’s Bumblebee. He sits on the Board of Directors for LAIKA, NIKE and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
CHRIS BUTLER (Screenwriter) won a Golden Globe for LAIKA’s Missing Link, which he wrote and directed. He also wrote the original screenplay for ParaNorman, directed by himself and Sam Fell. Chris was a writer on BAFTA-winning Kubo and the Two Strings, for which he additionally acted as Head of Story, and was Head of Story for LAIKA’s first movie, Coraline. Prior to his time at LAIKA, Chris amassed a decade’s worth of experience designing and storyboarding on numerous high profile animated projects, including Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride. Chris has received two Academy Award® nominations, a BAFTA® nomination and five Annie Award nominations, as well as the first ever GLAAD award nomination for an animated feature. In addition to developing new animated projects, he most recently wrote the screenplays for LAIKA’s upcoming Wildwood.
AARON NEE & ADAM NEE (Screenwriters) began their career with a self-financed micro-budget feature film, The Last Romantic (IFC Films), which premiered at SXSW and landed them in the 25 Filmmakers to Watch list for Filmmaker Magazine that year. Their follow-up feature, the adventure-comedy Band Of Robbers, again garnered great festival and critical praise. They next directed the Paramount action-comedy hit The Lost City, starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Brad Pitt, and Daniel Radcliffe, which premiered to critical acclaim and box office success. The Nee Brothers wrote and are set to direct their original feature Calamity Hustle, which was sold in a bidding war to Warner Brothers as a package with Channing Tatum and Ryan Reynolds attached to star. The Nees have a first-look producing deal at Warner Brothers via their production company Persons Attempting and are actively developing projects across film and television. They previously rewrote a live-action Lego film for Universal Pictures, rewrote two Kevin Hart action-comedy movies for Netflix, were involved in early development of Minecraft, and had a script deal with Bad Robot and Paramount Pictures.
DAVE CALLAHAM (Screenwriter) is a Chinese-American screenwriter who grew up in Northern California and moved to Los Angeles in 1999, where he worked as an assistant before selling his first script — a thriller — in 2002. Since then, he has written across multiple genres, including action (Godzilla, Mortal Kombat) comedy/horror (Zombieland 2), enormous flops that almost derailed The Rock’s career before it even started (Doom) and superhero tentpoles (Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse.) He has also written and produced for television, creating the 2017 masterpiece Jean- Claude Van-Johnson for Amazon Prime. He lives somewhere in the general vicinity of Los Angeles with his family.
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