Bumblebee Director May Finally Get That Masters Of The Universe Movie Made
Here we go again. Another year is starting, which means it's time for the "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" movie to get yet another director. Like so many projects stuck in developing hell, it seems like practically every director currently working in Hollywood has, at some point, been involved in this film.
Now, Deadline reports that Travis Knight — the director of "Bumblebee" and "Kubo and the Two Strings," founder and CEO of Laika, and son of Nike co-founder Phil Knight — is the latest name to be attached to the long-in-development "Masters of the Universe" movie from Mattel. The report specifically says he is in "final negotiations" to direct, yet the deal hasn't closed just yet as other elements of the film are still being figured out. Nevertheless, this is exciting news, and brings the project one step closer to actually getting made.
Knight is reportedly bringing along writer and animator Chris Butler ("ParaNorman") to rewrite the script, which is based on an initial draft by David Callaham (2021's "Mortal Kombat"), as well as Aaron and Adam Nee ("The Lost City"). When /Film's Jacob Hall talked to the Nee brothers about their script in 2022, they said it would be a "wild and crazy" adaptation and compared it to the tone of "Thor: Ragnarok," so fingers crossed some of that energy remains in the new draft.
Does Travis Knight have the power?
A reboot of "Masters of the Universe" has been in the works since 2007, with the rights going from one studio to the other and filmmakers like Jon M. Chu, McG, and David S. Goyer all slated to direct it at various points.
Last year it was reported that Netflix had axed its take on the "Masters of the Universe" live-action film even after spending millions of dollars in development for it. The streamer already produced a series of animated TV shows based on the popular Mattel toy property, including (the very successful and acclaimed) "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power," Kevin Smith's adult reboot "Masters of the Universe: Revelation," and the anime-inspired "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe." Now, in the wake of the monster success of "Barbie," we'll see if Mattel can finally get this movie off the ground.
There's only been one live-action film version of the toy line so far. It was simply titled "Masters of the Universe" and starred Dolph Lundgren as He-Man. In 2015, /Film put together a massive oral history of that movie, which you'll just have to read to believe.