'Masters Of The Universe' Reboot Wants 'Men In Black' Reboot Writers To Find The Power Of Grayskull
The Masters of the Universe reboot that Hollywood refuses to let die has found new writers: Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, who are responsible for the script of another reboot: Men In Black International. Adam and Aaron Nee, who helmed the quirky indie flick Band of Robbers, are directing the movie, which will once again attempt to bring He-Man to the big screen.
Remember that Masters of the Universe reboot? The one that has been kicking around tinseltown since at least 2007? Here's a new update, courtesy of Variety. Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, writers with credits on Iron Man, Punisher: War Zone, Transformers: The Last Knight, and the upcoming Men In Black International, have been tapped to write the latest draft of the script.
As you may recall, the most recent draft was written by David S. Goyer, but the project goes back further than Goyer's script. John Woo originally tried to mount a reboot in 2007, but the project never got the green light. Kung-Fu Panda filmmaker John Stevenson next became attached in 2009. By 2012, Jon M. Chu, the future Crazy Rich Asians helmer, was in talks to direct. Other potential directors that were suggested included Joe Cornish, Rian Johnson, Andrés Muschietti, Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders, and Phil Lord and Chris Miller. None of them took the gig, though, and by 2016, McG was hired. But by 2017, McG was gone, and Goyer came in to rewrite a script that had previously been handled by Evan Daughery, Chris Yost and more. Adam and Aaron Nee were officially hired to direct in 2018, and now here we are!
With all these stops and starts, there's always a chance things will change yet again, and that the Nee Brothers will bail. But for now, let's assume Masters of the Universe is on track. The movie, based on the toy line that spawned a Saturday morning cartoon, will focus on He-Man, "the most powerful man in the universe", who protects realm of the realm of Eternia against the evil Skeletor.
In 1987, director Gary Goddard brought He-Man to life with the first Masters of the Universe film, starring Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Frank Langella as Skeletor. The movie kind of stinks, but Langella is a hoot as Skeletor, so there is that.
To be blunt, none of this material is really that complex, so I'm not sure why it's taken so many writers and directors to crack it. That said, I quite enjoyed the Nee Brothers' Band of Robbers, which followed an adult Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer in modern-day times. I know that premise sounds a bit silly, but the movie worked surprisingly well. It's currently streaming on Netflix, should you want to check it out.