Starring Dolph Lundgren, the film was an absolute failure, both critically and at the box office.
The year was 1987, and the Cannon Group production company was not going through a very good time, as it was in a financial crisis, on the verge of bankruptcy. Outside of films starring Chuck Norris, the studio did not receive much income from other productions.
However, there was still a little hope before finally throwing in the towel, because There were three films that could still give Cannon Group a new chance, being Superman IV, Over The Top and Masters of the Universe the tapes that aroused excitement. Considering that all three feature films featured big-name actors, there seemed to be a little light at the end of the tunnel.
Mattel, excited to make a live-action He-Man and Skeletor, agreed to be part of the project, and under the direction of Gary Goddard, Masters of the Universe was started, having Dolph Lundgren in the leading role. However, what at first looked very good ended up being quite the opposite, since Mattel was slow to offer its participation, which is why the studio had to start filming with a very limited budget.
Once the film was released in theaters, the reaction it aroused among professional critics was not at all favorable, a reason that influenced its box office performance. Having had a very good start, ticket sales to see the film began to plummet in free fall. Masters of the Universe It only managed to raise 17.3 million dollars, against a budget of 23 million dollars. In short, it was all a complete failure.
Cannon Group, very confident that this particular project would do well, already had a sequel in development, and even its script was already ready. The second installment would be called ‘Masters of the Universe 2: Revenge of the Beast’, but after the terrible reception that the original film had, all plans were more than cancelled.
To make matters worse, the overall failures of Superman IV and Over The Top They put the final nail in the coffin of Cannon Groupthus marking the definitive end of the production house, and resulting in a sad story that ended up leaving a large number of filmmakers unemployed.
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