He-Man gets a reboot! That’s right nerds, the popular Mattel toy line He-Man and the Masters of the Universe has been green lit for an upcoming movie based on the characters. Masters of the Universe will be the second live action film based on the popular toys, and based on recent developments, it appears that the project—a long time in the making—is finally making more progress …at least with respect to concept art.
Off To a Rough Start
Years after the rumblings of a reboot first began to circulate—which would bring us back to around 2007—the Masters of the Universe movie seems to be making more progress than ever. At least, if you’re gauging by the developments being posted to the Twitter page for DeVon Franklin, the Senior Vice-President of production for Columbia Pictures. However, we still don’t know much else, for instance who will direct or star in the film.
Jeff Wadlow has apparently written the script for the upcoming Masters of the Universe reboot, although we have yet to get confirmation on who will be directing the feature film. The first and only name to be concretely linked to the project was Director Jon M. Chu (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) back in 2013, who has since abandoned the project to work on another film adaptation of a popular 80s cartoon and Mattel competitor, Hasbro’s Jem and the Holograms; which coincidentally is due to be released into theaters in October 2015.
Since Chu’s departure, there have been several names circulating to take over as Director of the movie, including Mike Cahill (I Origins), Jeff Wadlow, Harold Zwart and Chris McKay. It would make sense to have Jeff Wadlow direct since he rewrote the script after Justin Mark’s Grayskull: The Masters of the Universe script was discarded, but the studio may have someone else in mind for other reasons.
Battle Cat Re-Imagined
In a recent post to his Twitter account, DeVon Franklin casually leaked an image of Battle Cat, He-Man’s trusted sidekick and travel companion. While Franklin offered no further details in addition to posting the photo, this is in fact his third reveal regarding the project—he previously posted an image of the completed script by Jeff Wadlow back in January and the title card for the movie back in February—demonstrating proof to both fans and nonbelievers that this project is indeed happening.
However, at this point, Franklin is the only credible source attached to the Masters of the Universe reboot who has been providing updates to the public. Why? No one really knows. But, whatever the reason may be, it is clear that Columbia is treading lightly with this project and with all the hiccups in the past and slow start, I don’t blame them. Perfection takes time, right? Besides, if this goes well, we may get a She-Ra movie as well. Fingers crossed.
What do you think of the concept art for Battle Cat? Sound off in the comments below.
Thanks to DenofGeek.com for the updates on DeVon Franklin’s Tweets and the script.