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Warner Brothers No Longer Master of He-Man's Universe

by Ethan Anderton
September 10, 2009

With the box office success of movies based on toys like Transformers and G.I. Joe, the re-invention of another iconic toy line, Mattel's Masters of the Universe, seemed like a no-brainer. But adapting the adventures of He-Man and his battles against the evil Skeletor have proven to be quite the challenge, and it looks like these difficulties have finally taken their toll on Warner Bros. Variety reports that WB and Mattel reached a mutual agreement to let the studio's option on this property expire so that Mattel can take the project elsewhere. But what exactly does this mean for director John Stevenson and producer Joel Silver?

Word on the street is that Stevenson will stay attached to the project, but Joel Silver and his company Silver Pictures (being exclusive to WB) will stay behind. More than likely this separation should benefit Mattel in that they'll get the project they want. As we've told you before, Warner Brothers hasn't exactly had the most open mind when it comes to Masters of the Universe. Despite the script conjuring a lot of early buzz, last October the project was considered dead after WB couldn't get commitment from any of the directors they wanted until Stevenson showed up.  It looks like the screenwriter Justin Marks has a knack for writing an incredible script (at least according to El Mayimbe's review) but having it get thrown into development hell. 

A similar predicament seemed to surround Marks' other script for Voltron, and now that project is being overhauled and started from scratch over at Atlas Entertainment.  Maybe they'll take a look at grabbing Masters of the Universe as well before some other company snaps it up. Hopefully we'll see more soon?

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