Written by The plot thickens.
There has been a long running controversial rumor in the Masters of the Universe fandom that Mattel could lose their sole rights to make He-Man movies, shows, or even the toys themselves to Dreamworks.
The whole notion of any of these scenarios happening seemed outlandish to most, just too fantastical to believe. How could Mattel, the original creators of the Masters of the Universe IP, ever lose control of their own creation in any possible aspect? It seemed like nonsense that a company would ever sign away rights to any property of theirs, especially one so lucrative as Masters of the Universe. (She-Ra, a co-creation originally between Mattel and Filmation, withstanding).
Yet today, when the Hollywood trade publication Variety.com broke the news that Amazon MGM Studios might strike a deal with Mattel to make the live-action “Masters of the Universe” movie (the very same project Netflix walked away from), Variety indicated that Mattel will only have the rights to make MOTU Movies until the end of 2026 which can jeopardize sequels and subsequently the entire deal.
Per Variety:
“Like any good superhero tale, this deal has an antagonist that threatens its very existence. The rights to “Masters” are entangled in a dizzying web, one that stretches back more than a decade to when DreamWorks Animation purchased them as part of a larger content library. The deal said Mattel could exploit “Masters” characters for filmed adaptations through 2026, two sources say.
“As DreamWorks Animation is now owned by NBCUniversal, this means the conglomerate could interfere with any potential sequels that Amazon MGM would want to develop — an essential option a producer needs when investing hundreds of millions of dollars in a big movie.”
So Amazon MGM Studios might not want to make a He-Man movie if they can’t make possible sequels down the road. That makes sense. So as a remedy, Mattel is trying to work out “a possible extension of the rights” with Dreaworks allowing Mattel to make Masters of the Universe movies past 2026.
Per Variety:
“NBCU/DreamWorks and Mattel have been in talks for weeks over a possible extension of the rights, sources say, and may reach a deal. A spokesperson for NBCUniversal declined to comment.”
So does this current rights deal impact more than He-Man/MOTU Movies? Could Mattel lose the rights (as the contract currently stands) to make He-Man and the Masters of the Universe television shows as well after 2026? Could Mattel lose even more?
After reading this bit of information from a reputable source like Variety, we are not prepared to rule anything out.
We’ll see you next time.
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is He-Man.org closing on the same day as TG might get some vindication a coincidence? I think not! lol
Can make you believe in fate I guess
Omigod I didn’t know this. Would Dreamworks get the entire rights where He-Man and She-Ra could be together again?
@eternianbunny maybe not the toys, but probably the film and toon rights. Meaning, yes, He-Man and She-Ra might be able to appear on screen together again in the next few years. This might be another reason Mattel is attempting to revive the cancelled Netflix movie as a theatrical film (as an attempt to keep said rights).
I would be so excited if that happened my head would pop off! 😹
This generates quite a visual! 😃
And quite a messy one, at that! 🤣
@costume-n00b Indeed! Ever see the movie Scanners? 😄
As I understand this, toy guru was sorta right afterall (hate saying that.) Only he assumed it was the entire rights but it seems to be the movie (maybe toon) rights only, which makes sense as Filmation DID create most of the backstory that most of us think of to this day! That said, I don’t think Mattel is ever gonna lose the toy rights, I think in the 80s they never thought about how big media rights would be and probably did sign those off to Filmation. We shall see.
Those DC Comics had a hand in creating backstory too like the king and queen and prince Adam but I don’t think DC owns anything. Lou Scheimer must have been a wizard and cast a spell on them 😂
I am hoping DreamWorks lead MOTU universe could help the brand long term, remember that NBC Universal might buy DC Comics to so if they have MOTU + DC = ?
MOTU + DC = Woah
That would be crazy if MOTU rolled into DC. I guess I’d jump ship from Marvel.
On a positive side note; IIRC Amazon still has the rights and is kindaish (or at least was at some point) developing something live action She-Ra. Or at least was. Should they be able to expand this rights thing Amazon might be able to do MOTU right right out of the gate; with having She-Ra already included in the world building.
@lurker-man Exactly bro. I’m not convinced a rights shift is a bad thing. I’m not convinced it’s a good thing either but I’m not convinced it’s a bad thing.
Where ever the rights shift; the twins need to be re-united again. The current situation always makes it always seem like Hordak won so hard it broke the 4th wall and affected real life.
I don’t quite get you broski. What do you mean about breaking the 4th wall? That Hordak defeated She-Ra and now she doesn’t exist? Something like that?
@he-dad Not in commercial MotU stories. The last one AFAIK was inside the DC comic book series and that seemed to be dumb luck I guess (or they just had the space change to pay whatever licence to add her). In all other cases it “no cant do ’cause licence reasons". Even Revolution seemed to really want to be set on Etheria but cannot afford 80% of the characters associated with it & to add the cherry on top I would not be surprised if Skeletors daughter gets either prepped as a type of new She-Ra or teased enough to make ppl belive thats whats gonna happen just to do it not ’cause playing a round of subvert expectations.
Even decades ago it was a problem like with the continuation of filmation MotU in the newspaper comic strips where they at best hinted at She-Ra once or twice but nothing more to not get into hot water.
In the show the twins got separated when Hordak stole Adora; never meant to be a family again. Fanfiction aside his will had been done. Hordak won.
@lurker-man if DreamWorks gets the rights back and puts the twins back together I wonder if it will be She-Ra from POP or She-Ra from ATPOP.
Yes, that or with Amazon since they would seem to have media rights to both currently then but maybe are not doing it yet since they would only have such a limited amount of time to deep dive into it.
Thats why I’m glad that we can see a future where they can be a family again. 😀 I just meant the situation in the last years till right now with them being seperate makes it look like he won.
Seeing them a family again even in cartoon form one more time before I croak would be so amazing bro. Do a Secret of the Sword remake and I can die happy.