He-Man Finally Has the Power as MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE Explodes on Streaming
He-Man may have lost the box office battle, but he’s absolutely crushing it from the comfort of Eternia’s living room.
After struggling during its theatrical run, Masters of the Universe has found a much bigger audience on streaming. Travis Knight’s live-action He-Man adventure was the most-watched movie or TV series across streaming services in Nielsen’s rankings for the week of July 20-26, racking up an impressive 1.17 billion minutes viewed on Prime Video.
That’s a pretty wild turnaround for a movie that couldn’t convince enough people to buy a ticket. Masters of the Universe opened in theaters on June 5 before making the jump to Prime Video on July 22, giving it a surprisingly short theatrical-to-streaming window. Once it arrived at home, though, people showed up in huge numbers.
With a runtime of roughly 140 minutes, those 1.17 billion viewing minutes work out to the equivalent of around 8.4 million complete viewings. Obviously, Nielsen’s numbers don’t mean 8.4 million individual people sat down and watched the entire movie from beginning to end, but it gives you an idea of just how big the audience was.
For a little perspective, if those 8.4 million theoretical viewers had each purchased a $15 theatrical ticket, that would amount to roughly $125 million in ticket sales.
The closest competition during the week was The Big Bang Theory, which pulled in 1.12 billion minutes across its massive library of 281 episodes on HBO Max. Even more impressive for Masters of the Universe, the movie didn’t arrive on Prime Video until July 22, so it reached 1.17 billion minutes with two fewer days available during Nielsen’s measurement period.
The streaming success also puts some of the comments made during the movie’s theatrical release into a different light.
When the opening weekend numbers came in, MGM Studios Head of Domestic Theatrical Distribution Kevin Wilson defended the movie’s performance and pointed toward a larger distribution strategy that extended beyond theaters.
"This weekend represents a very solid start for Masters of the Universe and the passionate, multigenerational audience response we're seeing around the world has been fantastic," he said.
"Travis Knight and the entire cast and filmmaking team have delivered something truly special, and this opening is exactly the kind of critical first moment that validates our holistic distribution strategy—building awareness and engagement that will carry well beyond the theatrical window."
Well, that audience certainly carried beyond the theatrical window. It doesn’t change what happened at the box office. Masters of the Universe finished its theatrical run with $114 million worldwide against a reported $170 million production budget, and that doesn’t include the additional money spent marketing the film. Financially, its theatrical performance was rough.
The Prime Video numbers reveal something interesting, though. Millions of people apparently wanted to see He-Man, Skeletor, and the rest of Eternia brought to life. They just weren’t willing to head to a movie theater and pay to see it.
There are plenty of possible reasons for that. Maybe the marketing didn’t sell audiences on the movie. Maybe people were skeptical of another attempt to bring Masters of the Universe to live action. Its disappointing theatrical performance may have even made some viewers curious enough to check it out once it was included with their Prime Video subscription.
Whatever brought people in, the result is the same. Masters of the Universe has found a huge second life at home.
That has to be satisfying for Knight, the cast, and everyone else who spent years getting this movie onto the screen. A theatrical flop becoming the biggest streaming title of the week doesn’t erase the money lost at the box office, but it proves there’s an audience for this version of He-Man.
It also raises the obvious question: Could these streaming numbers help Masters of the Universe 2 happen? Hopefully! But, a sequel certainly isn’t guaranteed, especially considering the first movie’s budget and theatrical performance.
I’d be happy to see Knight get another shot at it. I had a blast watching Masters of the Universe. Sure, it wasn’t a perfect movie, but it captured the spirit of the cartoon that I loved as a kid. There’s plenty of room to build on what worked, fix what didn’t, and go even bigger with a sequel.
For now, He-Man can at least claim one victory. The theatrical audience might not have given him the power, but streaming viewers definitely did.