Starring the brilliant Nannar alongside newbie Courtney Cox, this heroic fantasy film sunk his studio…but has since become a cult film!

In 1987, the production company of the “Cannon Group” was already in a bad state. Only the Chuck Norris movies – Delta Force and Missing – have made any real money, and the company is close to bankruptcy.

He’s still bankrolling three movies that might save it: a superhero movie (Superman IV) and two feature films starring the cast of The Rock Saga: Up with Sylvester Stallone and Masters of the Universe with Dolph Lundgren.

As for the latter, it’s a film adaptation of a toy line that’s the subject of a successful animated series. Cannon doesn’t have a huge budget for it, but is counting on Mattel, which owns Masters of the Universe and its heroes He-Man and Skeletor, to participate. An agreement was reached and filming began under the direction of Gary Goddard.

That man has no money

But as the director confides in the film’s DVD commentary, Mattel was slow to get involved, forcing the team to shoot on a shoestring budget and without a second crew—often responsible for close-ups and shots they didn’t need. Being the main actor.

Despite these budgetary difficulties, the release of the project is also difficult: the film was very poorly received by American critics (35% on Rotten Tomatoes), and at the box office, a fairly good start, quickly collapses like an explosion. Masters of the Universe grossed $17.3 million on American soil against an estimated budget of $23 million. flop.

Netflix canceled the deal and now a remake is in the works on Prime Video

The cannon fires

The sequel that was written should be called Masters of the Universe 2: Revenge of the Beast. Surfer Laird Hamilton replaced Lundgren in a scenario in which Skeletor infiltrated Earth in the shoes of a wealthy businessman with ill intentions who was forced to assume the guise of a professional quarterback.

Finally, the failure of Superman IV, Over The Top, and Masters of the Universe in the same year ended the burial of a cannon that already had one foot in the grave. He was bought by French financiers and began marketing his catalog to the video market and several films on the big screen, including Blows for Blows with Van Damme.

But the public loves these flaws

If we go by its ratings on AlloCiné, the movie is not good, averaging 2.1 out of 5 according to Internet users and still! Even those who give the film a bad rap understand that it’s having a good time, even with Nicotrash-like nostalgia: “Allows Gary Goddard’s only feature film not to sink into oblivion, it’s also that little bit of emotion that keeps me from giving it less than 3 stars and that occasionally pulls it out of the closet.”

Huberzelb warns: “Sword fights are funny, Courteney Cox starts out as the heroine, it’s done with the means at hand and it’s all the more delicious!”followed by MaCultureGeek: “Nanaar Magnificent, Masters of the Universe in the late 80s is an integral part of all this garbage, to the point of generous tears (of joy, I specify).” You have been warned!