Apparently that’s the word on the “street”. Sony, who has had a live-action Masters Of The Universe movie in development hell for as long as they’ve had the license, may be in talks to go straight to streaming by partnering with Netflix. Netflix, through their agreement with Dreamworks, already has the re-imagined She-Ra cartoon and will have the Kevin Smith run alleged continuation of the classic cartoon. Dreamworks doesn’t have the live-action movie, Sony does. To have a trifecta of sorts might be good for Netflix.
However, this does come with some questions. Why would Sony not want to bring this to theaters? Would Mattel, who has been putting together their own studio like Hasbro has for their properties, be okay with this? Andre over at Midnight’s Edge goes over all these questions and explains what would and wouldn’t be beneficial for all parties concerned.
Catch more Midnight’s Edge on their YouTube channel.
Personally I don’t care if Masters Of The Universe is live-action or not. Animation allows for so many advantages in a story like this but it might work if they do it right and ignore Sony’s earlier plans to slowly send out the villains in a series of movies leading to Skeletor because that’s not what the franchise is built on. It’s Skeletor and his army against He-Man and his allies. As I don’t buy into the live-action theatrical status symbol I’m kind of neutral on this. I just want it to be good, but I want everything to be good for the sake of the audience. Especially if the audience includes me. 😀
The part that confuses me is that Sony has their own streaming service, Sony Crackle. If the streaming wars are part of this, even given Sony’s concerns about pulling this off, they’re basically giving their rival access to their license and giving them a bigger boost compared to Sony’s not-as-publicized ad-supported service. This feels like a mistake to me, but I don’t understand what Hollywood does anymore.
I liked the MOTU artwork shown in this video. Well, I would prefer that the live action Masters of the Universe film be released in movie theaters. If it’s released on Netflix, I’m not going to see it. In my opinion though, a Masters of the Universe film released worldwide in cinemas will do very well. Remember that MOTU toys and the cartoons were consumed all over the world in the 1980s. People who are still MOTU fans and even adults who aren’t but recall playing with the toys or watching the toons in their youth are all folks who would watch this movie in the theaters. Add to that, younger adults, teens, and kids who would like the look of this live action movie, and I think there’s a true blockbuster hit here! Sony should take the gamble and release it in the movie theaters! Just think of all the sequel possibilities!
Speaking of MOTU, the new Masters of the Universe comic book series coming out from DC in November will focus on mutiverses. MY question for you, Tronix, is this: What seems to be the comic book industry’s current fascination with mutiverses?
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If I were to hazard a guess I imagine the writers want to be able to redo a continuity and have something all their own but still have that recognition. Status quo is becoming a dying art, which probably has more than one reason why.
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On point explanation. I do feel that a Masters of the Universe limited comic book series is possible without it being a multiverse. The MOTU universe itself is full of enough story possibilities. Oh well….I’ll see what issue #1 of Masters of the Multiverse is like in November, and then make my decision about whether to continue with it for the following five issues.
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Between the minicomics, the DC Comics of old, the current DC Comics, the Marvel/Star and MV Creations takes, three different He-Man cartoons with another coming, the original live-action movie, two She-Ra cartoons, and all the various books and other media over the years, there already is a bit of a multiverse out there. If it pays tribute to those various incarnations it might be okay.
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I didn’t even think of that possibility. You made a good point there. Perhaps it’s those multiverses which will make appearances….and that is something I would be cool with! (also, I’m surprised you didn’t specifically mention the newspaper comic strips!)
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