Alison Brie and Camila Mendes Bring the Power of Grayskull to a Fan Experience Event, but Can ‘Masters of the Universe’ Win Back Its Audience?
The world of Eternia has officially arrived in our own, and the cast of ‘Masters of the Universe’ has been out in force celebrating it. A fan experience event in Los Angeles gave audiences a taste of the film’s immersive mythology, with stars Alison Brie and Camila Mendes photographed front and center in a striking installation featuring Skeletor’s unmistakable throne of skulls.
The film, directed by Travis Knight and produced by Amazon MGM Studios and Mattel Films, with Sony Pictures Releasing handling international distribution, hit theaters on June 5, starring Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Adam and He-Man, with Jared Leto as Skeletor, Idris Elba as Man-At-Arms, Camila Mendes as Teela, and Alison Brie as the villainous Evil-Lyn.
Fan events like the Los Angeles experience have become a central part of the push to connect the franchise’s devoted nostalgic base with newer audiences.
The promotional campaign has been a spectacle in its own right. Around May 19 and 20, approximately 1,600 drones lit up the night sky over Los Angeles, creating shifting images tied to the film including Castle Grayskull, He-Man, Skeletor’s skull-like face, and the iconic “I Have the Power” line, with videos spreading quickly across Instagram, TikTok, and X. That kind of event-level marketing signals just how much was riding on this release.
The property cycled through several studios including Netflix, Warner Bros., and Sony Pictures, as well as countless writers, directors, and stars such as Jon M. Chu, McG, and Noah Centineo. When Amazon MGM acquired the rights in 2024, they hired Travis Knight to direct and Nicholas Galitzine to portray the titular hero. The film had been in some form of development since 2007, making its theatrical arrival feel genuinely historic for fans of the franchise.
The screenplay was written by Chris Butler and Aaron and Adam Nee, based on a story by Aaron Nee, Adam Nee, Alex Litvak, and Michael Finch, with the film carrying a production budget of between $170 and $200 million. Everything about the production screamed blockbuster ambition.
Despite all the spectacle, the opening weekend delivered a sobering result. ‘Masters of the Universe’ closed its opening weekend with a 3-day global total of $54.3 million worldwide, comprising $29.3 million from the domestic box office. Against a production budget in the $170 to $200 million range, those numbers raised immediate red flags.
Only 5% of viewers were under the age of 12 and only 6% were between the ages of 13 and 17. The biggest demographic for the opening weekend was those between the ages of 45 and 54, at 29%, reflecting a film that resonated almost exclusively with the generation that grew up watching these characters. Winning back nostalgic adults is one challenge, but building a new generation of fans clearly proved far more difficult.
Audiences who did attend were enthusiastic, however. The film earned a B CinemaScore and a 64% definite recommend among the general audience, with children under 12 enjoying it at 96% in the top two categories.
Critical reception landed in a complicated middle ground. Rotten Tomatoes critics praised the film’s self-deprecating script and spirited cast, calling it a delightful adventure that finds the humanity in He-Man, while others described it as a glossy action spectacle that wears its heart on its jacked sleeve. The audience score sat at an impressive 87%, pointing to a real gap between critical skepticism and fan affection.
Nicholas Galitzine spoke about the physical demands of the role in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in April, saying, “Truthfully, I feel like I learned a lot about myself and how far I was willing to push myself and really suffering for it. It took a really, really long time. It’s really not for the faint of heart.”
The photographs from the Los Angeles fan experience capture exactly the kind of energy that Mattel and Amazon MGM have been trying to generate around the franchise. Whether the film can overcome its disappointing opening with strong streaming performance on Amazon Prime remains to be seen, but Brie and Mendes posing in front of Skeletor’s throne suggests the cast, at least, is having the time of their lives.
Let us know in the comments whether you caught ‘Masters of the Universe’ in theaters and what you thought of the film’s star-studded cast.
