After more than a decade in development hell, Masters of the Universe finally hit theaters on June 5th, 2026, courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios. Directed by Travis Knight (Bumblebee) and starring Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Adam / He-Man, the film brings Eternia, Skeletor, and the Power of Grayskull to the big screen for the first time since the much-maligned 1987 cult classic. With a cast that includes Jared Leto as Skeletor, Camila Mendes as Teela, Idris Elba, Alison Brie, Kristen Wiig, and Morena Baccarin, expectations were sky-high. So does it stick the landing?
The Setup: Earth, Eternia, and a Sword in a Comic Shop
The film opens on Eternia, where young Prince Adam and his friend Teela are being trained by Duncan, the Chief of the Royal Guard and Teela’s father. When Skeletor’s forces attack Eternos and capture King Randor and Queen Marlena, the Sword of Power is hidden away on Earth for safekeeping. Years later, an adult Adam — now living a quiet, directionless life on Earth — stumbles onto the sword in, fittingly, a comic book store. The moment he touches it, Skeletor’s lieutenant Beast Man comes hunting, and Teela arrives to pull Adam back to Eternia to fulfill his destiny.
Casting: Galitzine’s He-Man vs. Leto’s Skeletor
Nicholas Galitzine plays Adam as a reluctant hero who spends much of the first act sketching Eternia from memory rather than acting on it — a more grounded, almost mopey take before he transforms into the iconic, musclebound He-Man by shouting “I have the power!” and channeling Castle Grayskull. Jared Leto’s Skeletor, meanwhile, leans into full theatrical menace, closer to the cartoon’s campy villain than a gritty reinterpretation. The supporting cast — Idris Elba, James Purefoy, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Charlotte Riley, Alison Brie, Kristen Wiig, and Morena Baccarin — fills out Eternia’s warriors, including fan-favorites like Fisto, Ram-Man, Dian, Moss Man, and Mekaneck, plus the reprogrammed combat robot Roboto.
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From Eternos’ Ruins to Castle Grayskull
Once Adam and Teela arrive on Eternia, the film shifts into a planet-hopping rescue mission. Eternos lies in ruins, and Adam is initially dismissed as a nobody by the planet’s remaining warriors. After he and Teela are thrown into a prison cell alongside a disheveled Duncan, the group escapes and rallies the scattered heroes of Eternia to make a stand against Skeletor’s forces. The film’s centerpiece comes when Adam finally uses the sword to summon the Power of Grayskull, transforming into He-Man for the first time on screen and taking down Skeletor’s enforcer Trap Jaw in a sequence that’s been singled out by critics as the film’s visual highlight.
Box Office and Reception: A Mixed Bag
After its May 18th premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, Masters of the Universe opened wide on June 5th to a mixed critical reception and has grossed $86.1 million at the box office so far. Critics have praised the production design, the He-Man transformation sequence, and Galitzine and Leto’s commitment to the material, but several reviews have called out a sluggish first act and a tone that struggles to settle between gritty fantasy epic and the campy, colorful spirit of the original 1980s cartoon and toy line.
A Long Road to the Screen
It’s worth remembering just how long this film took to get made. Sony Pictures first announced a Masters of the Universe reboot back in 2009, and the project bounced through multiple writers, directors, and casts over the following decade. Netflix picked up the rights in 2022 before Amazon MGM Studios acquired the project in 2024. Principal photography finally wrapped in London between January and June 2025, with Travis Knight directing from a script credited to Chris Butler, Aaron Nee, Adam Nee, and David Callaham. After 17 years, the fact that it exists at all — and looks this polished — is itself a small miracle.
Final Verdict
Masters of the Universe isn’t a perfect adaptation, but after 17 years of development purgatory, it’s a genuinely solid one. Galitzine and Leto anchor the film with committed performances, the He-Man transformation moment delivers exactly the spectacle fans have waited decades for, and the roster of classic Eternian characters — Fisto, Ram-Man, Mekaneck, Moss Man, and more — all get their moment. The pacing issues in the first act keep it from being a slam dunk, but for longtime fans of the toy line and the 1980s cartoon, this is the live-action He-Man movie worth seeing on the big screen. By the Power of Grayskull, it mostly works.
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