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The Travis Knight-directed take on Masters of the Universe showed off a behind the scenes reel at CinemaCon this evening, and let’s just say, it’s no where near as campy and cheesy as the 1980s movie with Dolph Lundgren. After Red One, this is clearly a big tentpole for Amazno MGM Studios with a big summer date of June 5, 2026.
The pic stars Nicholas Galitzine as wavy blonde He-Man, Camila Mendes as Teela, Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Morena Baccarin, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson and Charlotte Riley star, with Jared Leto and Idris Elba.
This is clearly the first tentpole take of the Mattel property with many of the characters, i.e. Teela, Man at Arms, Skeletor, looking exactly as the toys and then some. God knows when the studio will drop the reel, but we catch Jared Leto as Skeletor, Camila Mendes training on jump wires and running sideways, and Galitzine in full sword swinging mode. The BTS reel showed the massive castle sets being built with plenty of green screens.
Knight, Galitzine and Mendes kicked off the sizzle, recorded from the London set, as they took turns explaining that they are teaming to create an “epic” movie with characters to set the scale. Knight explains that his passion for the universe date back to childhood or “pretty much my entire life.” So much so that he “lived and breathed” the story and once even had a He-Man haircut.
The reel featuring many of the filmmaker’s creative team including producer Jason Blumenthal who said the project marks a “rebirth of this incredible world,” adding that “the scale is massive.”
Set pieces that were shown included the planet Eternia and He-Man’s iconic Sword of Power as well as character costumes. “We’re not making a cartoon here, we’re making a live action fantasy film,” the filmmaker said. Other shots showed Galitzine’s rigorous training that included sword play and weight lifting. “He is transforming, it is amazing to watch,” Blumenthal praised. The reel closed with a close-up of Galitzine in his He-Man garb with the blonde locks that drew cheers from the crowd.
Exclusive Footage Description: Director Travis Knight, Nicholas Galitizine, and Camila Mendes introduced a sizzle reel first look at Masters of the Universe. Though there wasn’t a lot of footage of the film itself, we were shown a look at Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man reaching for his iconic sword. Knight expressed that his intention for this movie was to be as faithful to the cartoon and toy line as possible, but also capture a high fantasy aesthetic in live-action. We were given concept art and set photos of multiple characters in costume, including Morena Baccarin as The Sorceress, Idris Elba as Man-At-Arms, Jared Leto as Skeletor, and Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn, all of whom have incredibly ’80s accurate costumes.
Amazon MGM promises Masters of the Universe to be one of the biggest films they have slated for 2026, putting a large emphasis on showing off time lapses of the physical set elements and costumes being designed. Masters of the Universe is still filming, so there isn’t much to glean from the plot, but hopefully, the work shown here pays off into something immersive. What we can say is that there is an emphasis on practicality and accuracy, without it looking too ridiculous or uncanny in live-action. He-Man fans will definitely be happy with these designs.
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