Posted by Jonathan Klotz | Published
The 1980s were the golden age of Saturday morning cartoons. Half-hour animated spectacles that were subtle commercials, carefully crafted to get kids begging their parents to buy them a new one every week, were gold mines for toy companies.
It all started in 1983 with He-Man and the Masters of the Worlda syndicated series that went on to air 130 episodes in just two years, en route to becoming one of the most popular franchises of the 80s. Along the way, Mattel had the idea of making it into a live-action movie, and in 1987, they revealed it to the unsuspecting public, making it one of the biggest flops of the decade.
Their He-Man movie was a big flop; it destroyed a franchise, hurt jobs, and wiped out an entire movie studio. That’s why Masters of the Universe failed.
Transforming He-Man Toys into Tom Paris and Monica Gellar
He-Man was always going to be a difficult cartoon to make live. Character designs are over-the-top and designed for animation. Who was going to play He-Man since Arnold Schwarzenegger was already on Conan? The answer was Dolph Lundgren, who recently played the role of the great Russian boxer, Ivan Drago. Rocky IV.
The powerful Swedish man looked the part, but who would play his arch-nemesis, Skeletor, the wizard of muscular bones? Why, Frank Langella, of course? The Tony-winning actor was cast as Skeletor in the oddest way since Raul Julia was cast years later. Street Fighter the movie. The results were the same.
Langella took the role because her son loved He-Man, and she treated her role as the bone witch with all the integrity of Shakespeare. Years later, Langella would refer to him Masters of the Universe as one of his favorite sports, and to be fair, he plays in this movie.
Ending the cast of two of the most popular characters in Masters of the Universe cartoon, Thomas Paris and Monica Geller. Of course, the live-action He-Man takes place on Earth and the future Star Trek: Voyager stars Robert Duncan McNeil as singer Kevin, and Courteney Cox as Julie. No one knew that these two would go on to bigger and better things. In 1987, they worked cheap.
He-Man Goes Shopping in the Real World
Masters of the Universe it did not fail because of its imitation. It failed because of money. Or rather, a complete lack of money. Production company Cannon Films acquired the rights to He-Man for a low price. Who wanted to make a movie about a cartoon and a toy line? There is no.
Trying to adapt He-Man’s super character designs to live action has been difficult. Orko was so difficult to bring to life that he was scrapped entirely and replaced by Gwildor, an inventor who later appeared in the cartoon reboot.
Even worse, Battle Cat was cut from the film. The big green cat might be too much for the audience to handle, but then again, this is the same franchise that includes Beast Man.
The relatively small budget, ranging from $15 million to $22 million depending on who you ask, also contributes to the story. He-Man battles on the planet Eternia? It’s gone. Instead, you get to fight in the streets. Castle Greyskull gets maybe 15 minutes of screen time.
A big part of He-Man’s appeal is Eternia’s mix of high fantasy and sci-fi. Putting Dolph Lundgren in a store doesn’t have the same appeal. It might be like watching Conan the Barbarian waiting at the DMV.
Cannon’s budget ended up running out and almost adding another casualty: The Master of the Universe climactic battle between He-Man and Skeletor. With no money, filming ended a few days early, forcing director Gary Goodard and the team from Mattel to scramble for last-minute funding.
They managed to get two more nights of shooting without Cannon, enough to get the final battle, significantly short of what the original script called for, but good enough for the difficulty they were in. What would a He-Man movie be without a final confrontation, a tug-of-war with Skeletor?
Cannon Movies Run Out of Power, Masters Of The Universe Flops
Masters of the Universe it overcame the bankruptcy of Cannon Films and finally saw the light of day on August 7, 1987. In that first weekend, it made $5 million.
That’s nothing, but it’s less than Cannon Films expected. Masters of the Universe ended its run grossing only $17 million, failed to recoup its production budget and became one of the most popular blockbusters of the 80s.
One of the main reasons Masters of the Universe it failed it was there on release date: August, 1987. 5 years after the toy line started doesn’t sound like much, but it meant that the kids who were into He-Man were also 5 years old, and He-Man wasn’t cool compared to Transformers or GI Joe. Next to Optimus Prime and Snake Eyes, a guy in a shirt that screams I HAVE POWER is not cool; you are strange.
The cartoon did not air when the film was released. New episodes stopped airing in 1984. Action figures stayed on the shelves, and there was another subtle sign that He-Man was losing popularity: the 1985 animated film. He-Man and She-Ra: Secret of the Sword. She-Ra’s debut also flopped, earning only half of its $12 million budget.
That’s the saddest part of 1987 Masters of the Universe film: all reasons for failure have nothing to do with the work of the actors and crew. The movie itself is amazing. It’s ridiculously campy; Dolph Lundgren’s overkill fits perfectly, and even with the low budget, you can tell they tried to squeeze in as much cartoon as possible. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s a lot of fun, and today it’s a cult classic.
History Repeats Itself
That could change Masters of the Universe 2026. New movie, starring Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man, Jared Leto as Skeletor, Alison Brie as Evil Lyn,, Idris Elba as Man-at-Arms, Camilia Mendes as Teela, and everyone’s favorite friend, Morena Baccarin as the Witch.
History can repeat itself: animated reboots, both She-Ra and the Princesses of PowerKevin Smith’s Masters of the Universe series, and the He-Man CGI cartoon, have all come to an end. At least this time, budget isn’t a concern, but then again, Jared Leto is box office poison.
If nothing else, the best part is new Masters of the Universe The release of the film was fans agreeing that the 1987 film was the best. Dolph Lundgren was given a red carpet by the fans, and even gave Nicholas a sword. Nearly 30 years after being laughed at in theaters, Lundgren is finally being appreciated.
He-Man paved the way for a generation of cartoons and live-action adaptations, never reaching the heights of those that followed, but it set the standard and blazed a trail for others to follow. In 1987 Masters of the Universe it’s one of the worst movies you’ll ever see. It deserved better, and it never should have failed.
