The long and winding road towards another Masters Of The Universe film may finally be nearing its end. McG is in talks to tackle the new live-action movie.
Masters Of The Universe, if you were born after the '80s and need an explanation, was a Mattel toy line and Filmation cartoon series. It focused on Adam, Prince of Eternia and defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull. Fabulous powers were revealed to him on the day that, for reasons best known to himself, he held aloft his magic sword and said some magic words, turning him into the muscular warrior He-Man. His cowardly pet tiger-thing Cringer got to become Battle Cat as part of the deal, and with allies like soldier Man At Arms, sorceress The Sorceress, amazon Teela and floating wizard thing Orco, they fought the somewhat inept powers of evil, headed up by the weirdly buff skeleton overlord Skeletor.
This is one that has confounded several companies for years, with various studios including Warner Bros. developing their take on the idea. Currently Sony and production company Escape Artists has a deal with toy titans Mattel, and all involved are hoping that this turns into a franchise behemoth along the lines of Transformers. Or even just one good film, to banish the memories of the cheesy-fun '80s version that saw Dolph Lundgren as the hero up against Frank Langella's boney villain.
Directors such as Jon M. Chu have flirted with the idea, but it has proved difficult to nail down. Now McG, who last made 3 Days To Kill, is considering it – we'd note that he's not in negotiations yet, but it's looking likely – and will wait and see what the latest script draft (previously written by Alex Litvak and Mike Finch) looks like before making his final commitment. Will he pick up the sword? We'll have to wait and see.