It’s been years since I did a Hit or Miss article mostly because there hasn’t been many blockbusters I’ve been excited about. I grew up in the 80’s and was always a huge He-Man fan. I had a bunch of the figures and watched the cartoon religiously. I even enjoyed the Dolph Lundgren version of Masters of the Universe, despite its flaws.
I have to be honest that so far I think the trailers to the new Masters of the Universe look pretty awesome. The characters all look accurate, it seems bright and colourful with plenty of nods back to the original cartoon. I love hearing the hints of the classic theme tune too, but I hope the movie doesn’t let us down and actually gives us an epic update of it. I just saw a clip (below) showing Adam transform into He-Man and it isn’t playing the theme… why not? That’s literally for me as a fan the most important aspect of this film aside from the cast; this is the exact moment the theme should be playing. I hope the full scene will have it so I am holding off judgment until I see the finished product.
People my age will have at least a passing interest in the movie, but will the young generation be there? I’m hearing good things in terms of early reviews which is great news however, I hear the film isn’t tracking that well, so far in terms of box office.
Apparently it’s looking at a domestic opening weekend of $25 to $35 million with a reported budget exceeding $170 million. That means it’s going to have to perform extremely well overseas to make back double its budget.
A problem I’ve noticed (at least locally) is I’ve been wanting to book tickets with Cineplex, but I haven’t yet because all I see is the shitty 4DX seats which is all that vibrating chair nonsense. People my age will soil themselves watching a movie while all that stuff is happening. I don’t need gimmicks, I just want a decent movie. I barely see any regular screenings of it where I am based too and there isn’t even an IMAX showing. I know Toy Story 5 will be out a few weeks after it, but this should have at least got 1 weekend in IMAX. To me, this shows the studio doesn’t have much faith in it being a success, so they are expecting it to be a middling hit at best.
I see it making maybe $35-40 million on its opening weekend, but I don’t know any young people who are interested in it as they have no idea who the character is. I hope I’m wrong as it looks like director Travis Knight is a genuine fan of the cartoon and the film looks like a faithful update.
To summarize, I think Masters of the Universe will be a hit with old-school fans who will enjoy the nostalgia but it will struggle to make its budget back due to lack of interest from a mainstream younger audience. I’ll be happy to be proven wrong in June… so until we meet again, He-Man!!