According to Heat Vision Blog, Mike Finch and Alex Litvak, who penned the script for Robert Rodriguez and Nimród Antal’s upcoming Predators reboot, have been hired by Sony Columbia Pictures to write a new script for the long-stalled adaptation of Masters of the Universe.
The only question now is: can the duo do for He-Man what they have seemingly done for the Predators (read: make him awesome and relevant again)?
Master of the Universe has been through a lot of changes in recent years. The film was setup at Warner Bros. for a long time, and went through several starts and stops with different writers and possible directors hopping on and off the project. We last reported that Masters of the Universe had moved to Sony, and we’ve been waiting to hear some new developments ever since. Today marks that day.
Mattel, the toy company which owns the He-Man/Masters of the Universe brand, has been strict in their control over the feature film. Litvak and Finch’s pitch was reportedly epic enough to make Sony happy about the movie’s chances, yet faithful enough to the core brand (likely read: plenty of merchandising opportunity) to keep Mattel happy. But is that the kind of balance He–Man fanboys were hoping for?
Suddenly I’m imagining the two writers in the pitch meeting, and the words “Just like what Michael Bay did with Transformers,” are pouring out of their mouths. I’m wary about such an approach, to say the least.
Finch and Litvak are experiencing a meteoric rise through the ranks of Hollywood screenwriters. After their spec script, Medieval, made a big splash and attracted some big names, the pair were given the Predators reboot to work on – and, if the reaction we’ve seen to the Predators trailer is any indication, they knocked that project out of the park. Despite my toy-turned-movie trepidation, these guys may be the best thing to happen to this Masters of the Universe movie thusfar.
Still no word on when Columbia is trying to get the story of He-Man and the other heroes of Eternia onscreen for their battle against Skeletor and his minions – hopefully sooner before later.
For now, you can venture into the imaginations of Mike Finch and Alex Litvak when Predators hits the screen on July 9th.
Header image source: “Nebezial” @ Deviant ART
