Earlier this month Warner Bros completely dropped the development of the live action He-Man adaptation Grayskull: The Masters of the Universe, despite Justin Marks’ screenplay gaining big traction from internet buzz and Kung-Fu Panda director John Stevenson signing on to direct. Heatvision is now reporting that the project might not be completely dead after all.

Apparently Columbia Pictures / Escape Artists are in negotiations to pick up rights to the Mattel property. Stevenson and Marks are both no longer involved with the project, which will be developed from the ground up.

Marks script, which was described as “Lord of the Rings meets The Matrix meets Batman Begins”, was enough to get us excited about the project - we even listed off five reasons the movie could actually be cool. And lets face it, “cool” is not even in the first 50 words that would normally come to mind when thinking about a He-Man movie.

Now that the project is starting fresh with no writing talent officially attached, who knows what shape it might take. That said, I think I’m more excited to see how this plays out than any potential Conan reboot/remake.

The He-Man and the Masters of the Universe toy line spawned the popular animated series ran from 1983 to 1985. They later created a 1990 futuristic sci-fi cartoon, a 2002 remake, and a horrible 1987 live action film which stared Dolph Lundgren.

For those of you who don’t remember the series, Adam, the Prince of Eternia, possesses a magic sword, and when he holds it aloft and says the magic words “By the power of Grayskull… I HAVE THE POWER!” he is transformed into He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe. A brave blond muscleman in a baldric and loincloth, He-Man battles against Skeletor’s repeated attempts and failures to enter Castle Grayskull.

fan art created by nebezial