Opening Weekend Forecast: £1.5M – £2.5M
Theatrical Total Forecast: £4M – £7M
Cinema advertising company Pearl & Dean has released their predicted opening range for Masters of the Universe, opening in the U.K. and Ireland this weekend.
Amazon MGM, along with their U.K. distribution partners Sony, have been on a roll lately. Project Hail Mary is the unqualified breakout film of 2026 so far at £34.4 Million, while The Sheep Detectives is fast becoming a summer sleeper hit with £6 Million (both as of 22 May). Now both companies are throwing their weight behind Masters of the Universe in the hope it becomes a multi-installment franchise.
Trailers suggest a sci-fi/fantasy tone in line with 2023’s Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves. While that film was not commercially successful enough to spawn a sequel, it still scored a respectable £13.7 million in U.K. and Irish cinemas. Amazon has certainly cast Masters of the Universe well for a franchise starter, pairing an up-and-coming Gen Z hot property in Nicholas Galitzine against a pedigreed star like Sir Idris Elba and a supporting cast including Kristen Wiig, Alison Brie, and Jared Leto.
However, the audience for the film is still unclear, leaving us less-than-certain in our box office forecasting. Masters of The Universe was originally conceived by Mattel as a toy line that would compete with George Lucas’ Star Wars; it was only later that it became a beloved children’s cartoon and ill-fated 1987 live-action film. If Amazon and Mattel are relying on pre-existing love for the franchise, then they’ll need to draw in a much older crowd than Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences who are the most prolific cinemagoers today.
It is likely Mattel was inspired by the behemoth success of Great Gerwig’s Barbie (£95.7 Million), which sparked a new generation of fans for their flagship doll. However, He-Man does not have the same cultural footprint as Barbie, and this new film lacks the offbeat, meta take on its material that brought so much attention to Barbie in the run-up to release.
Tron: Ares, which also starred Jared Leto, grossed just £4.9 million last October, indicating that ’80s nostalgia is by no means a guarantee of box office success. Toy-based franchises also tend to be inconsistent in their box office earnings. The one-time behemoth Transformers franchise made just £8.2 million with its last installment, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, while the most recent attempt to get G.I. Joe off ground with 2021’s Snake Eyes took in only £1.1 million.
Comps: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves (£13.7 Million), Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts (£8.2 Million)
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