Original He-Man actor Dolph Lundgren says he was disappointed that the new Masters of the Universe movie didn't fare better at the box office.
"Yeah, I was a bit disappointed. I mean, everybody told me it’s going to do great," Lundgren told ComicBook. "I’m not a huge believer in looking at the box office and that influencing how I feel that much emotionally about the picture. But I did think about it like, 'Oh, okay. Um that was strange that didn’t do better.' And I don’t know why that is. They did a lot of marketing, they did a lot of press. I was part of it, some of it. I don’t know where it’s at now; I mean, I think it did fairly well overseas as well. I’m not sure what that means really."
It's possible that live-action He-Man adaptations (despite both being very good, campy fun) are cursed given that the 1987 Masters of the Universe movie was also a box office flop. Lundgren played the Prince Adam to Frank Langella's Skeletor in the David Odell-penned film, which only grossed $17 million against a budget of $20 million.
The new Masters of the Universe, which stars Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man/Adam and Jared Leto as Skeletor, has only made $102 million against its $200 million budget so far. However, Amazon seems pretty pleased with the film overall, and the Masters of the Universe post-credits scene (which I stood up and clapped for) does set up a sequel... so there still might be hope yet. Lundgren also makes a super fun cameo in the new film, which may or may not have made me cry a little.
Masters of the Universe is in theaters now and you should absolutely go see it. For more, check out our picks for the best movies on Amazon Prime, or, read our Masters of the Universe review.
