Grayskull: Masters of the Universe - Part 3

[TheVileOne]

Did He-Man ever visit Earth in any of the cartoons? Because I don’t remember Earth ever factoring into the story except in the awful Dolph Lundgren movie. It would be really annoying if, ONCE AGAIN, a live action He-Man movie goes the Smurfs route and spends most of its time on Earth.

Well going by the synopsis, he'd probably spend a chunk of the first act on Earth before returning home to Eternia. Not like the whole movie similar to the 1987 film.

 

[TheVileOne]

That would be a mistake.
Why can't they do a proper MOTU adaption?

They probably want to use this as a way to ease the audience into Eternia and make Adam more of an audience surrogate.

 

[Bren]

I also think studios don't have massive faith in this IP to put up the money a proper MOTU film would need.

 

[DarkKnight88]

They probably want to use this as a way to ease the audience into Eternia and make Adam more of an audience surrogate.

Well that and it’ll be a hell of a lot cheaper shooting a bulk on Earth setting.

 

[Deck Rickard]

They probably want to use this as a way to ease the audience into Eternia and make Adam more of an audience surrogate.

It almost sounds like Star-Lord in reverse, lol.

 

[TheVileOne]

Well that and it’ll be a hell of a lot cheaper shooting a bulk on Earth setting.

Well, unless Eternia actually exists, the whole movie would be entirely shot on Earth anyway

I think it's a bit premature to say the bulk of the story is set on Earth based on that synopsis.

 

[TheVileOne]

It almost sounds like Star-Lord in reverse, lol.

Well, that could be a big motivating factor since something like Guardians is probably what the movie will want to emulate.

 

[TheVileOne]

I also think studios don't have massive faith in this IP to put up the money a proper MOTU film would need.

Let's say this movie cost $150 million, I'm OK if the first movie comes in under $200 million if that's what it needs to give a proof of concept especially if Knight and Butler are confident in their vision. Because if the first movie is a hit then they can get more money for a sequel and do more of what they want.

We have to be realistic. Masters of the Universe hasn't been a culturally relevant property or franchise since 1980s. This is really the franchise's last shot to make something happen. If this movie doesn't work out, I don't think we are going to see anything major come out of this franchise again anytime soon. So it's understandable if Amazon MGM might want to cut a few corners or say, "We'll give you $120-$150 million but not $200 million."

Look at Dungeons and Dragons. Great reviews, high audience score, but audiences just didn't show up in theaters despite everything that movie had going for it. And that's Dungeons and Dragons. It's understandable that Amazon MGM might be a bit more cautious about MOTU.

I think it says a lot though that this is getting a theatrical release. Amazon MGM wouldn't even release Roadhouse in theaters. That film cost under $100 million, big star attached in Gyllenhaal, and they still didn't want to give it a theatrical release. Clearly, Amazon MGM has some level of faith in Knight and Butler's vision.

 

[Airwings]

They probably want to use this as a way to ease the audience into Eternia and make Adam more of an audience surrogate.

Is there any need for the audience to be eased into Masters of the Universe? How come?

 

[TheVileOne]

Is there any need for the audience to be eased into Masters of the Universe? How come?

Because it's kind of a culturally irrelevant property of a bygone era that hasn't had any significant cultural relevance since the 1980s? How do you reintroduce this property to a new generation and people will get it and flock to it? It's different than the things that are popular right now. Parts of the He-Man franchise are also arguably very dated, hence why they probably think they need to revamp the premise a little bit by having Adam stuck on Earth for most of his youth and the start of his adulthood.

Listen. I love He-Man. I love Masters of the Universe, but I'm just being realistic here. Movies like this are tough to pull off. Yes, Skeletor and He-Man are iconic, but the last live-action He-Man thing was in 1987 and that movie was not a success. The animated CG reboot got canceled. The Kevin Smith shows did better, but the first season had all that stupid controversy. Revolution was way better, but Netflix only gave them five episodes for that one. We have no idea if we're getting another one.

When you look at TMNT, another property that started in the 1980s, TMNT has had way more reboots over the years with varying degrees of success, but it's had more successful reboots than MOTU between the 2003 series, the 2014 live-action movie, the 2012 animated series, and now the Seth Rogen movies. Plus, TMNT has had a stronger presence on toy shelves over the years compared to MOTU.

 

[Bren]

Let's say this movie cost $150 million, I'm OK if the first movie comes in under $200 million if that's what it needs to give a proof of concept especially if Knight and Butler are confident in their vision. Because if the first movie is a hit then they can get more money for a sequel and do more of what they want.

We have to be realistic. Masters of the Universe hasn't been a culturally relevant property or franchise since 1980s. This is really the franchise's last shot to make something happen. If this movie doesn't work out, I don't think we are going to see anything major come out of this franchise again anytime soon. So it's understandable if Amazon MGM might want to cut a few corners or say, "We'll give you $120-$150 million but not $200 million."

Look at Dungeons and Dragons. Great reviews, high audience score, but audiences just didn't show up in theaters despite everything that movie had going for it. And that's Dungeons and Dragons. It's understandable that Amazon MGM might be a bit more cautious about MOTU.

I think it says a lot though that this is getting a theatrical release. Amazon MGM wouldn't even release Roadhouse in theaters. That film cost under $100 million, big star attached in Gyllenhaal, and they still didn't want to give it a theatrical release. Clearly, Amazon MGM has some level of faith in Knight and Butler's vision.

Long way to say "I agree" 🤣

 

[TheVileOne]

Long way to say "I agree" 🤣

Yes!

 

[Primal Slayer]

I don't think the audience needs to be eased into He-Man. A basic scroll/voiceover can do enough work.

It'd be like saying we need to set Lord of the Rings in "present day" and have Froto get stuck in the past or Star Wars in the past to the future type gig.

If the writing is good enough, it will give the audience enough information and draw them in.

 

[BobJM]

I watched the 2000s reboot when I was younger and had those action figures—that’s always the version of He-Man that I want on screen.

 

[TheVileOne]

I don't think the audience needs to be eased into He-Man. A basic scroll/voiceover can do enough work.

It'd be like saying we need to set Lord of the Rings in "present day" and have Froto get stuck in the past or Star Wars in the past to the future type gig.

If the writing is good enough, it will give the audience enough information and draw them in.

Lord of the Rings was one of the most popular and beloved book series of all time, and it's the seminal book series for medieval fantasy. And a lot of risks were taken with Lord of the Rings that paid off.

I'm not saying you are wrong, but studios are very risk-averse now. That's why they make choices like this. He-Man is a very different type of fantasy than Lord of the Rings. It's a fantasy mythology that's derived from an action figure line. And the action figures have never reached the popularity they did in the 1980s. It's a very nostalgia-based property these days.

And just to be fair, the idea of present-day Earth existing has kind of been baked into the property already since Marlena's backstory of being an astronaut who comes from Earth. In the original cartoon, He-Man met other astronauts from Earth. So it's not like this is Middle-earth here or Westeros or the Star Wars galaxy. Eternia is a planet on the other side of the universe that exists along with Earth. And He-Man's strength has always been mixing sword and sorcery fantasy with science fiction. That makes MOTU unique from say Conan the Barbarian or Lord of the Rings. There's a sci-fi aspect to the property that makes it more than just fantasy or space fantasy.

I can deal with the premise if it's simply a way to enable the plot and set up for Adam's predicament while most of the movie is set on Eternia. If it turns into another 1987 situation, I will be disappointed.

 

[Airwings]

Because it's kind of a culturally irrelevant property of a bygone era that hasn't had any significant cultural relevance since the 1980s? How do you reintroduce this property to a new generation and people will get it and flock to it? It's different than the things that are popular right now. Parts of the He-Man franchise are also arguably very dated, hence why they probably think they need to revamp the premise a little bit by having Adam stuck on Earth for most of his youth and the start of his adulthood.

Listen. I love He-Man. I love Masters of the Universe, but I'm just being realistic here. Movies like this are tough to pull off. Yes, Skeletor and He-Man are iconic, but the last live-action He-Man thing was in 1987 and that movie was not a success. The animated CG reboot got canceled. The Kevin Smith shows did better, but the first season had all that stupid controversy. Revolution was way better, but Netflix only gave them five episodes for that one. We have no idea if we're getting another one.

When you look at TMNT, another property that started in the 1980s, TMNT has had way more reboots over the years with varying degrees of success, but it's had more successful reboots than MOTU between the 2003 series, the 2014 live-action movie, the 2012 animated series, and now the Seth Rogen movies. Plus, TMNT has had a stronger presence on toy shelves over the years compared to MOTU.

It doesn't have to be relevant to work.
What matters is to make the property interesting enough.
To convince the audience this is some cool stuff.
No big changes need to be done for that. They should trust the potential of MOTU and not water it down.
Make the film really good, Be passionate about the characters and Eternia.
Then people will come.

 

[TheVileOne]

It doesn't have to be relevant to work.
What matters is to make the property interesting enough.
To convince the audience this is some cool stuff.
No big changes need to be done for that. They should trust the potential of MOTU and not water it down.
Make the film really good, Be passionate about the characters and Eternia.
Then people will come.

Tell that to the people who are bankrolling these projects. It's not me you have to convince. It's the rights holders and greenlighting these projects who call the shots and make those decisions.

 

[Jordacar]

fwiw, I do really like this newly enlisted creative team, which is more than I can say for previous attempts.

 

[TheVileOne]

fwiw, I do really like this newly enlisted creative team, which is more than I can say for previous attempts.

Same. I don't want to see a lot of Adam on Earth either, but frankly, this is the best creative team I've ever seen on the movie and I've been following this project over the last 17 years on this board.

Just think about this, at one point, McG was on this. I think Jeff Wadlow wanted to do it at one point. The Nee bros. Predators writer Alex Litvak. John Stevenson. Justin Marks. I read some of the scripts, and I heard some of their pitches, and a lot of them sounded awful.

Knight and Butler are at least storytellers I think can do something somewhat decent here. Am I thrilled about a premise where Adam gets lost on Earth for 20 years? No, but I'm willing to give it a chance, especially if that's not the crux of the entire movie.

Also, MOTU has many iterations. In the original minicomics storyline, there was no Prince Adam. He-Man was just a wandering Barbarian who the Goddess gave the weapons and armor of He-Man and tasked him with protecting the secrets of Castle Grayskull. He was basically like a kid-friendly version of Conan the Barbarian. He-Man's secret identity, his royal lineage, all that material got worked in later.

I guess what I'm saying is, this is a property that changes and evolves over time. Look at TMNT. Mutant Mayhem turned April O'Neil into a bullied teenager. Villains are totally different and with different motivations. Sometimes they have Splinter as a pet rat of Hamato Yoshi. Sometimes Splinter IS Hamato Yoshi mutated by the ooze. In Mutant Mayhem, he's just a mutant rat who learned ninjitsu from watching YouTube and there's no f'n Hamato Yoshi at all.

 

[Airwings]

Tell that to the people who are bankrolling these projects. It's not me you have to convince. It's the rights holders and greenlighting these projects who call the shots and make those decisions.

Ah, the producers. They're afraid to lose money.
Thinking the audience is stupid and lack ability to handle otherworldly concepts
So they dumb down the property by changing and simplifying it. Which is what's going to be the actual cause of the movie failing.

Isn't it sad how it's become in Hollywood?
George Lucas would never have managed to make Star Wars today, it would be deemed too risky.