Warner Bros. Walk Away From ‘Grayskull’
Dolph Lundgren in the 1987 film 'Masters of the Universe'
The Warner Bros. live-action Masters of the Universe film, Grayskull, was scheduled for release in 2011. That’s not going to happen.
Warner Bros. has just parted company with Mattel after the two failed to agree on the direction of the project.
Masters of the Universe is a popular Mattel franchise that was created 28 years ago. It includes a range of toys, comics, animated series, action figures and a film in 1987 with Dolph Lundgren starring as He-Man and Frank Langella as Skeletor. The live action movie performed relatively poorly, barely earning enough to cover its budget.
Warner Bros. wanted their version of Masters of the Universe to be a lot different than the 1987 version . They were gunning for a gritty fantasy that completely re-imagined the original story, hence why they intended calling it Grayskull. Their story would follow a soldier named Adam who sets off to find his destiny and happens upon the magical world of Eternia. There, Skeletor has raised a technological army that is bent on eradicating magic.
Joel Silver has been producing the Warner Bros. film through Silver Pictures, so it would seem both Warner Bros. and Silver Pictures have both dumped it.
Kung Fu Panda director John Stevenson was hired by Warner Bros. to direct the film. Expectations are that Stevenson will stay with it.
An earlier screenplay for the film was penned by Justin Marks who was later replaced by Evan Daugherty. I’d say its a fair bet that both of those screenplay’s won’t see the light of day.
The news doesn’t mean a Masters of the Universe feature film won’t happen, but it will certainly put a delay on things as Mattel must now shop the film to a new studio.
Source: Variety
January 18th, 2010 at 5:25 am
thats fucked up u know how long the fans have been waiting(patiently i might add)for a he-man movie ,a good he-man movie now is the right time u know it is it should be gritty and it should be an origin film and it also should stay true to the anime i know you can do it hurry up shit listen our world shouldnt have any thing to do with it thats where you fucked up on the first one u need to give eternia a face relate it to earth but act as if earth never existed give us a world where a hero is needed sci fi yet lord of the ringish bring familiar faces like tela ,man at arms ,even orko(comedy sidekick) re-event them yet keep them the same and for goodness sakes battlecat we wanna see a journey that changes mentally a young man to a he-man as well as a journey which leads him to a magic sword only he can yield (his birth right)a villian with distruction an carnage and goons to stand in his way monsters and warlocks kings and sorceress big budget please dont give up on this this could be bigger than transformers and gi joe combined try universal and to mattel give a little get alot were still going to love ya they just wanna upgrade a little (but not to much and if u need any seriuos help call me at 901 324-7923 ask 4 seed i like alot of us just want this movie made
January 18th, 2010 at 5:59 am
also keep it grimy and gritty but make eternia big and beautiful try to keep the name grayskull that works it had me from the minute i found out the name try to keep it pg13 that would open up a whole new fan base remember galactic yet lord of the ringish (i dunno any other way to put it)and please keep the real world (earth) out of it i cant stress that enuff try to keep adam and he man the same actor two people who i think would be a good fit paul walker or ryan renolds though u might want to go younger and thats cool to make sure they in shape they dont have to be arnold big but at least spartan(300)big oh yeah on more thing have the actor grow his hair long i hate wigs ps jason statham would be a good man at arms and willem defoe could make a great skeletor and may be jessica biel as tela or ann hathaway but she has to get her wieght up and muscular and for the sorceress demi moore or nicole kidman who ever does that role should speak with an acsent or be able to i just see the sorceress with a beautiful acsent okay im done ps jaleel white for the voice of orko give him a shot unless u revent orko to be like a wanna be wizard in training the it shoulb be some one close to adams age like a best friend type ur choce if i think of some one ill let u kno until then make it by any means dont 4 get the fans like me