‘Masters of the Universe’ Turns Box Office Bomb Into a Bona Fide Streaming Powerhouse

Every so often, a movie that struggles mightily in theaters manages to find an entirely different life once it hits streaming, and that redemption arc has become one of Hollywood’s most fascinating stories of the year. Few films illustrate that turnaround quite as dramatically as this summer’s live-action reboot of a beloved ’80s toy and cartoon franchise.

That film is “Masters of the Universe,” Travis Knight’s ambitious take on the He-Man mythology starring Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Adam. The reboot arrived in theaters on June 5 to a soft $29.4 million opening, ultimately closing out its theatrical run with just $113 million worldwide against a reported $170 million production budget, a significant shortfall given typical break-even expectations in Hollywood.

That disappointing box office run stands in stark contrast to what’s happened since the film hit Prime Video. “Masters of the Universe” has now officially topped Nielsen’s overall streaming chart, racking up 1.173 billion minutes of watch time for the week of July 20-26, making it just one of two titles that week to cross the billion-minute threshold, alongside HBO Max’s “The Big Bang Theory.”

That figure places “Masters of the Universe” ahead of a genuinely staggering competitor, given “The Big Bang Theory” pulled its numbers from 281 combined episodes rather than a single feature-length film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the sitcom’s rerun library came in second overall with 1.122 billion minutes, meaning one movie managed to outpace nearly three decades’ worth of sitcom content in total viewing time.

The film’s dominance extended well beyond the overall chart, too. On Nielsen’s movies-specific ranking, “Masters of the Universe” topped the list by a wide margin, with the next closest competitor, Netflix’s “72 Hours,” trailing significantly with 791 million minutes for its own premiere week.

That streaming surge follows a broader pattern that started almost immediately after the film’s July 22 Prime Video debut. According to streaming tracker FlixPatrol, “Masters of the Universe” topped Prime Video’s movie chart in more than 25 countries on its first day alone, doubling that reach the following day before claiming the platform’s worldwide No. 1 spot, a run that pushed Amazon’s own “Project Hail Mary” off the top position it had held.

Critics were relatively kind to the film during its theatrical run, though a “B” CinemaScore suggested general audiences weren’t fully won over at the time. That disconnect between critical reception, opening weekend turnout, and eventual streaming success has become an increasingly familiar pattern for mid-budget franchise films navigating today’s fractured theatrical marketplace.

Director Travis Knight has previously expressed genuine passion for the world he built, telling CBR ahead of the film’s release that he has “so much affection for these characters and this world” and that the story is “so much bigger than the scope of this film.” He added that if given the opportunity to continue the story, he knows “exactly where it’s gonna go” and who he’d cast in future roles.

Whether this newfound streaming dominance is enough to convince Amazon MGM Studios to greenlight a sequel remains an open question, especially given how steep the theatrical losses were on the film’s initial run. Still, with viewing numbers this strong just weeks into its streaming life, “Masters of the Universe” has proven there’s a substantial audience for this version of Eternia, even if that audience preferred watching from their couches.

For a franchise that’s had a rocky history translating to live-action since Dolph Lundgren’s 1987 cult classic, this streaming turnaround offers a genuinely hopeful sign for He-Man’s future on screen.

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