Editorial Staff
Eight-hundred years since it first hit an exec’s to-do list, the long-gestating “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” movie reboot inches forward.
Clawing for a roll with Battle Cat is superhero vet David S.Goyer, best known for “Man of Steel”, “Batman Begins”, the unproduced “Flash” script, “Blade” and “f*ck you for destroying my childhood!’ fame over there on Twitter.
The news comes from The Wrap, who reiterate the film is locked in for a December 18, 2019 release – so time is of the essence now.
There’s been more head honchos on this project than there has Australian Prime Ministers over the past five years, with everyone from John Woo, McG and Jeff Wadlow (of “Kick-Ass” fame) attached to the project. Just as many studios have flirted with Prince Adam’s cinematic homecoming too, with Sony currently housing the production.
“Masters of the Universe” became an animated TV hit before it was a feature film. Dolph Lundgren played the undies-clad warrior opposite Frank Langella’s Skeletor in the 1987 movie.
(A few years later, Canon – and uber B-director Albert Pyun– were prepping a sequel to the movie, with surfer Laird Hamilton set to play He-Man, but the project was cancelled and the props and production design instead used for a Van Damme vehicle titled “Cyborg”).
This version started out with script titled “Greyskull”, attributed to Justin Marks, but there’s been several, very different scripts since – with Christopher Yost recently assigned to handle. Goyer, whose most recognized work in the genre include the work he did on Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Blade” films, the latest of which he also directed, has already written his own version of a “Masters” film. Assumingly, he pitched Sony with the idea to helm his own screenplay and it’s come off.
Goyer’s currently working on the “Terminator” reboot with James Cameron and Tim Miller, Warner’s “Green Lantern Corps” movie, and SyFy’s “Krypton” series.
Producers currently on “Masters of the Universe” include Escape Artists principals Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch., Mattel’s Julia Pistor and David Voss, and Sony’s Matthew Milam, who is overseeing the project for the studio.
