Jon M. Chu takes on the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

After the success of his G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which really redeemed the franchise from its awful first movie, Jon M. Chu seems to be now the man who is in charge of bringing the world of the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE to the big screen. The film is still in development stage, and no details about when production-proper will begin as of yet. [full article after the jump]

For years, the world of He-Man has been wallowing in development hell. Way back in the 80's there was that silly movie adaptation with the same title MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE which starred Dolph Lundgren and Courtney Cox. Although it was extremely corny, people that time had to be contented with it. Besides, there were so many good things about it, such as Frank Langella's (Vader-esque melded with Palpatine-esque) performance as Skeletor.

According to Collider, Chu is not interested in making a campy or tongue-in-cheek movie out of Masters of the Universe, and instead is eager to built a serious, fully-developed fantasy world that will likely be similar in tone to the original mini-comics that came with the toys. At that point, Chu described Masters of the Universe as being still in the design and development stage.

In an interview with ComingSoon, Jon M. Chu had this to say:
“We’ve been designing a ton of stuff for Masters of the Universe as a really beautiful, grounded, honest world – that’s the best way I can describe it. It’s everything you want Masters of the Universe to be in terms of the fantasy but not in a way theatrical crazy way. It is actually a gorgeous world that we’re doing in the initial visual concepts that we’ve been making.”

Although things are moving ahead, Chu was honest enough to admit that it will still take some time before this project takes off, because this is still very much in the development stage.

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE will be an origin story, of course, since this is indeed a concept that has been lying dormant for quite some time now, and even though there was that not-so-popular 2002 animated series that reboots the series, the mainstream generally is unfamiliar with the world of Eternia, its characters, and the evil forces that lurks in its shadows.

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE seems like a movie concept that would be difficult to lose; it's Lord of the Rings meets Star Wars on the same movie setting. Spaceships and sorcery side-by-side, it's pure geek fantasy material. Personally, I am excited for this project, and I do really hope for it to be a magnificent new epic movie series. Jon M. Chu and his team right now seem to be perfect for the project. We do need a director like Chu that does not dismiss concepts such as this (and GI Joe) as some children's franchise, and give it a treatment that will be immensely spectacular to all audiences.