He-Man Found the Audience at Home That Skipped Him in Theaters

Straight to Prime Video instead of rental

Amazon did not put Masters of the Universe up for premium rental first. Forbes’ Tim Lammers reported that the studio skipped the premium video on demand route it used for Project Hail Mary and sent the film directly to Prime Video subscribers on July 22, 47 days after it opened. It was still playing in 315 U.S. theaters at the time.

Nielsen’s streaming rankings for July 20 to 26 put Masters of the Universe at No. 1 across all streaming titles with 1.173 billion minutes viewed, ahead of The Big Bang Theory on HBO Max at 1.122 billion, as MovieWeb reported. Media Play News reported that about 40% of the film’s viewers that week were between 35 and 49, the second-highest share in that age group among charting movies after HBO Max’s Mortal Kombat II at 48%.

The second week fell off sharply. CBR reported that for July 27 to August 2 the film dropped out of Nielsen’s overall top 10 and placed fourth among movies with 588 million minutes, about half its debut total. It stayed on Prime Video’s own U.S. Top 10 Movies chart for more than 50 days, sitting at No. 7 when it crossed that mark in September, according to Screen Rant.

Disc sales and audience scores

Alliance Entertainment released the physical editions with Amazon MGM on October 20, including an Amazon-exclusive 4K SteelBook. Preorders for that SteelBook took the top spot on Blu-ray.com’s bestseller list in July, passing The Mandalorian and Grogu, MovieWeb reported.

Viewers have rated the film higher than critics did. CBR noted a 67% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes against an 85% audience score, and Cosmic Book News reported a B CinemaScore from opening weekend.

Knight on the release and a possible sequel

Knight addressed the theatrical run in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter. He said he had not understood going into the project that Amazon placed more weight on the film’s streaming life than on its theatrical run, and added that the movie “deserved a better fate than it got, but I’ve made peace with it,” as reported by ComicBookMovie. In a separate Screen Rant interview, he said a sequel is out of the filmmakers’ control but that they would gladly make more if asked.

Amazon MGM has not announced a sequel. In June, Forbes’ Caroline Reid reported that Amazon judges films like this one by the exclusive genre content they give Prime Video rather than by box office profit alone, with theaters treated as the first stage of a longer release.

Masters of the Universe stars Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Adam, Jared Leto as Skeletor, Idris Elba as Man-At-Arms, and Camila Mendes as Teela, and is streaming now on Prime Video.