Masters of the Universe (2026) Bombs Opening Weekend! What Happened?
It’s the beginning of June which means we’re getting more summer blockbusters released. This past weekend we got Masters of the Universe, which didn’t open great and is tracking to be one of the biggest box office bombs of 2026. What happened to this movie? Why did it bomb? Let’s talk about it!
REASON #1: Younger Audiences Don’t Care AboutMasters of the Universe: This is the big reason as to why Masters of the Universe bombed. Even prior to this film coming out, I was thinking this is a reason the film would bomb. Masters of the Universe is an IP that adults and children of the ‘80s know. My dad was born in 1973 and loved Masters of the Universe when he was growing up. Masters of the Universe ended in 1985, 19 years before I was born. Nobody my age cares about Masters of the Universe and have seen a single episode of the show. My only useful knowledge of Masters of the Universe prior to the film was the Skeletor meme of him saying “until we meet again.” If that’s my knowledge of this pop culture IP going into the film, then people who are less pop culture nerds than me don’t have much experience either. The problem with this movie not attracting younger audiences, is that for a film to be profitable you need everybody to show up. For example, if you look at the $1 billion films most of them are four quadrant films. Films that appeal to men and women, over the age of 25 and under the age of 25. This movie only attracts the men and women that are over 25 and even with that, it’s people that are over 35 that are excited for this movie and want to check it out.
REASON #2: Too Much Competition: The late-May box office has been interesting as two smaller horror films, with Obsession and Backrooms over-performing and absolutely crushing it at the box office. Obsession and Backrooms are still killing it at the box office and were close to beating Masters of the Universe at the box office. Where Masters of the Universe had $29.4 million, Obsession in its fourth weekend made $25.3 million, with Backrooms making $26.2 million in its second weekend. These small horror films that cost about $11 million have greater word of mouth than Masters of the Universe and are becoming these event films that people are rushing out to go see, either for the first time or bringing other people so that way they can see them again and have other people experience them. Then the other competition is of course Scary Movie which did release the same weekend. Scary Movie’s overall reviews are worse than Masters of the Universe, but Scary Movie is still a franchise and a brand that people my age care about. There’s more excitement for that film and people my age are wanting to see Scary Movie, a franchise and a brand that people are familiar with. While Obsession, Backrooms, and Scary Movie are different films from Masters of the Universe, there’s still competition from different films that are more exciting and interesting than Masters of the Universe.
REASON #3: Looks Familiar and Generic: This is one that I hadn’t really thought about when making this list, but I saw a bunch of other people mentioning it, and I think it’s true. The trailers present this film as a big fun and lively sci-fi adventure with a classic hero’s journey character arc that’s good vs evil. It’s playing into all the tropes of the genre that feels inspired by Star Wars and other classic stories. We’re in an era where we have so many generic blockbusters and people are getting tired of them. When the trailers present the film as a big blockbuster that we’ve seen before, there’s not that urge to rush out and see it. It’s not enough of a hook to get the younger audiences that don’t know He-Man to show up to the theater to see this film. The movie itself is exactly what the trailers promised it to be. There’s not much more emotional depth or character moments that they hid from the trailers. I’d say that the trailers are a good sign for what this movie is. If you liked the trailers, then you’d like this movie. If you didn’t like the trailers, then you wouldn’t like this movie. Had the trailers or the movie itself had more substance to it and then put that in the marketing then maybe this movie could’ve sold more tickets and gotten the skeptics curious to see this film.
REASON #4: Reviews Were Good but Not Great: This movie’s perception and reviews have been interesting. They’d been screening the film for months and all the reactions coming out of it were positive. I know somebody who saw this film back in January and to this day it is his favorite film of 2026 and said that the audience broke out into applause multiple times in the film. The public didn’t exactly know that, but I had hopes that this movie could be good. If you saw my review I was mixed positively about the film, I did enjoy the film overall but was all frustrated by some of it. The reviews for the film from the critics were good, but they weren’t great. As of right now, the film has a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes with 219 reviews counted. When the Rotten Tomatoes score first debuted it was at 77%. The score has gone down since it first debuted. It’s still positive which means that most critics liked the movie. But I think had the score been better, then the movie might’ve done better. People could make the argument that there’s plenty of $1 billion films or films that make $500 million+ that don’t have great reviews. People don’t like The Lion King (2019), but it still made $1.6 billion at the box office. But the difference is that The Lion King source material has stayed with popular culture since 1994 to 2019. The Lion King (1994) is widely regarded as one of the greatest animated movies of all time that people of all ages can watch and enjoy. He-Man and Masters of the Universe haven’t done that; they haven’t stayed with popular culture the way that The Lion King (1994) has. When people bought a ticket to The Lion King (2019) it was a nostalgia play that worked because it sold a lot of tickets. Had Masters of the Universe (2026)’s Rotten Tomato score been in the 90s and the word of mouth was “one of the best movies of the year”, I think the movie would’ve opened much better. At the same time, the comparison that people are making is Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves from 2023. That film’s buzz was much more positive than this film, it currently holds a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. Dungeons and Dragons as a brand is much more popular and well known to people my generation. If that film wasn’t able to make a profit with having much better reviews, I think it was always destined that Masters of the Universe wasn’t going to do great regardless of reviews.
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