‘Masters of the Universe’ Opens to a He-Man-Sized Disappointment as $170M Blockbuster Struggles to Clear $25M
When Amazon MGM Studios greenlit a big-budget revival of the beloved Mattel property, the hope was that He-Man could reclaim the cultural throne he held in the 1980s. ‘Masters of the Universe’ arrived after years of development hell and a high-profile move from Netflix, with Amazon MGM putting its full support behind the reboot by assembling a star-studded cast and securing a prime summer release date. The franchise had not seen a live-action theatrical installment since 1987, making this one of the most anticipated nostalgia plays of the summer blockbuster season.
Director Travis Knight helms the film, which stars Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Adam/He-Man alongside a formidable ensemble that includes Camila Mendes, Jared Leto as Skeletor, Idris Elba, Alison Brie, Kristen Wiig, and Morena Baccarin. The production carries a reported budget of between $170 and $200 million, a substantial financial commitment that has now placed Amazon MGM in a very uncomfortable position given the film’s opening weekend trajectory.
According to @GlobalBoxOffice, ‘Masters of the Universe’ earned just $7.3 million on its first full Friday, bringing its combined opening day total, which includes Thursday previews, to $11.7 million. The post warned that the domestic debut could miss the $25 million mark entirely, with the film potentially getting outpaced by ‘Obsession’ in only its fourth weekend of release. Deadline confirmed the $11.7 million opening day figure, noting that the studio still believed a path to around $30 million existed, though others in the industry were already projecting the final number even lower.
The most painful context surrounding the film’s stumble is the competition it faces. Focus Features’ ‘Obsession,’ a horror thriller that opened to just $17 million against a budget of under $1 million, had already grossed more than $116 million in North America heading into its fourth weekend. ‘Obsession’ was projected to drop only 9% in its fourth frame, eyeing around $24.8 million for the weekend, which, if those numbers hold, would see a micro-budget horror film comfortably outperforming a $170 to $200 million fantasy epic on its debut weekend. It is the kind of comparison that makes for grim reading inside studio boardrooms.
‘Masters of the Universe’ has drawn positive reviews from critics, and the film holds a 66% score on Rotten Tomatoes, drawing comparisons to ‘Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,’ which also received good notices but ultimately underperformed commercially. Audience reception has been more encouraging, with the film earning a B CinemaScore and a solid 64% definite recommend rating among general audiences, with children under 12 responding especially enthusiastically at 96% in the top two categories.
Meanwhile, Paramount and Miramax’s ‘Scary Movie’ claimed the number one spot with an estimated $56 million opening weekend, the highest debut in franchise history, leaving ‘Masters of the Universe’ battling for second place in a crowded marketplace. With hopes of spawning a sequel franchise resting entirely on its commercial performance, the film’s opening numbers put its future in a genuinely uncertain place. Whether word-of-mouth from those enthusiastic younger audiences can salvage a longer theatrical run remains the one open question worth watching closely, and it’s worth asking whether you think a strong second weekend could change the conversation around this film’s sequel prospects.
