Netflix has canceled a Masters of the Universe movie with millions of dollars in losses

Bad news for fans of Masters of the Universe. The live-action movie that Netflix and Mattel were working on has been canceled after the streaming giant invested some 30 million dollars, according to a report by Variety.

This is not the first franchise project on the platform, which already has other animated series, and not the first time that this film is canceled, since Mattel has been working on the projects since 2007, going through Warner Bros at first and later Sony. What’s more, the 30 million spent by Netflix would correspond, in part, to the purchase of the rights to the film from Sony in 2019, although some sources share that the figure could be double that, closer to 60 million. This would be due to the hiring of actor Kyle Allen as the protagonist of the film, in addition to the pair of directors, Adam and Aron Nee (The Lost City).

Netflix and subscriber problems

The filming of the film was planned to begin next February, with a budget of 200 million dollars, something that seems that the platform, which is going through financial problems caused by subscriber counts plummeting, has not looked at favorably. In an attempt to revive the production, the pair of directors and producers Todd Black (The Equalizer) and Robbie Brenner (Mattel) tried to lower the budget to 180 million, going so far as to propose the filming of the possible sequel at the same time to lower costs. However, Netflix did not accept the deal, among other things because they did not consider that the actor chosen to star in the film was famous enough to attract the public.

All this without taking into account the strike that is taking place right now by the two most important unions of American screenwriters and actors, to which Allen belongs, and that could mean the loss of the actor from the hypothetical film. In addition, the Nee brothers, the directors of the film, already have other projects planned, so a delay in production could also lead to its departure.

Mattel now hopes that the exposure it is getting from the Barbie movie allows the project to run aground in some way, although the Netflix version has not raised the same excitement as the world’s most famous doll movie.