‘Masters of the Universe’ Is Already Struggling at the UK Box Office Ahead of a Crucial Opening Weekend
Amazon MGM’s long-gestating live-action reboot of the beloved He-Man franchise has finally arrived in theaters, and the signs from across the Atlantic are not encouraging. ‘Masters of the Universe’ was directed by Travis Knight and carries a reported production budget of between $170 and $200 million, making its early performance a matter of serious financial consequence for the studio.
The film had been in development since 2007, cycling through studios including Netflix, Warner Bros., and Sony Pictures, as well as a long list of directors and potential stars such as Jon M. Chu, McG, and Noah Centineo. When Amazon MGM acquired the rights in 2024, they hired Travis Knight to direct and Nicholas Galitzine to portray the titular hero, with Idris Elba, Camila Mendes, Alison Brie, and Jared Leto rounding out the cast as Man-at-Arms, Teela, Evil-Lyn, and Skeletor respectively.
According to @GlobalBoxOffice, ‘Masters of the Universe’ debuted at number three in the UK this Wednesday, landing behind both ‘Backrooms’ and ‘Obsession’ and raising early red flags about its commercial appeal. A24’s ‘Backrooms’ had already set a box office record for original horror in the UK and Ireland with a £4.3 million opening, leaving very little room for the sword-and-sorcery epic to breathe.
The domestic picture stateside is similarly sobering. The film is tracking for a $30 to $35 million opening weekend domestically, which would land it behind fellow new release ‘Scary Movie’ and possibly even behind the continuing runs of ‘Backrooms’ and ‘Obsession.’ That kind of opening raises immediate questions about whether a planned franchise can survive long enough to get a sequel, particularly given the size of its reported production budget.
Under a general industry rule that a movie needs to earn roughly two to two and a half times its budget to become a theatrical success, ‘Masters of the Universe’ would need to pull in somewhere between $425 million and $600 million worldwide depending on where its final production cost ultimately landed. A sub-$50 million global opening weekend, which @GlobalBoxOffice now suggests is a realistic possibility, would put that target firmly out of reach barring an extraordinary run of word-of-mouth legs.
Despite the gloomy tracking numbers, the film has earned a Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with a 74% critics score, and early reactions from screenings in May saw critics calling it one of the biggest surprises of the year, with comparisons drawn to Marvel’s ‘Thor’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’ The disconnect between critical goodwill and audience anticipation is one of the more puzzling elements of its rollout.
With ‘Obsession’ and ‘Backrooms’ having both become breakout hits driven by viral popularity, the crowded indie horror wave has proven unusually effective at suffocating blockbuster competition this summer, which may be the most honest explanation for why He-Man is struggling where the quality of the film alone cannot account for the shortfall. Whether audiences eventually show up for Eternia or leave Nicholas Galitzine swinging the Sword of Power in an empty theater is the question the industry will be watching closely this weekend, so share your thoughts below on whether you think ‘Masters of the Universe’ has enough to pull off a surprise turnaround.
