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MOTU movie allegedly to start filming this April for a December 2019 release.
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While I hold out very low expectations for this film, I do wonder who they could possibly cast in the title role.
Prediction: the main character will be referred to as Adam almost exclusively (except for some passing reference of him as a "big scrapping He-Man" or some such), following the Comic Book Movies Don't Use Codenames trope.Comment
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I think it's also important for the filmmakers to realize that MOTU is a storyline for kids. It always was and should remain. If you darken it up too much, the entire thing crumbles because at it's core, its a simple, fun story. It certainly could really use a little tightening up but there doesn't need a lot of depth added. It's got a great, colorful cast of characters battling for control of a colorful universe. Just give us that.Comment
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If I was making this film, the first 20 mins of the film would be an interlude featuring a battle between the Giants, Tytus and Megator, fighting over/protecting castle grayskull
Characters featured would be (in all their "glory" in correct outfits as close as possible)
He-man
Teela
Man at Arms
Man E Faces
Stratos
Fisto
Ram Man
Battle Cat
Orko ( the ja-jar binks annoying character)
Skeletor
Beast Man
Evil Lyn
Tri-klops
Trap Jaw
Clawful
Mer-man
Jitsu
Featuring Castle Grayskull w/ Sorceress, Wind Raider's, Sly sled's, Battle Ram, and Roton's
Setting up for the sequel bringing in the Evil Horde take over (Hordak,Grizzlor,Leech,Mantenna,Modulok and more) and a possible team up with He-man/skeletor, until the betrayal later on setting up the 3rd film in it's trilogy. (MOTU'S Empire strikes back)
Featuring new additions- Mekaneck,Buzz-off, Webstor Rio blast, Stinkor and Two-bad
The 3rd film brings in the Snake Men for the final battle and conclusion.Comment
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This is a funny thread to read. MOTU is going to get made and you can thank the Netflix She-Ra reboot.
For Mattel, a MOTU movie series is a licensing boon because they own it outright, but they don't want to finance they're own productions ala Marvel. That's too much risk, so they license the film rights hoping someone does the yeoman's work for them. But to get a studio to greelight MOTU, Matty needs to prove the brand has modern value, which hasn't happened. At the same time, Robot Chicken obliterated the image - with the key demo - to the point where Matty gave up caring and let Geico and Honda jump on board the lampoon train.
To make it harder, MOTU is at Sony, a studio that is constantly the talk of being merged/sold and owns weak ip so they need to license from outside partners.
This is a good article to understand rights swapping, as seen through the movement of Green Hornet. https://deadline.com/2016/11/the-gre...ee-1201854807/
...but since the bust of the original Spidey reboot and Green Hornet, they've become hugely risk-adverse. Then when other studios strike out with similar ip value - ala Dark Universe - it creates more apprehension.
But then Netflix comes along and reboots She-Ra. I'd bet Sony thought they had the She-Ra rights within the MOTU umbrella and learned otherwise.
This now leaves Sony with a choice, drop the MOTU rights or try and piggyback on the brand revival Netflix will bring in 2018. Sony knows though if they drop the rights, Netflix will pick it up and move quickly thanks to the success of Bright.
At some point, Goyer makes his pitch and of everyone involved with MOTU at Sony, he does have the best track record. Within the industry, Marvel credits him for making them a bankable ip thanks to Blade, and he was the one who set up the TDK trilogy.
As for a change in design, don't blame Goyer, blame Mattel. Mattel wants someone to bank a huge movie so they can reap the licensing whilrwind. A studio's ROI is now half-built on ancillary markets, namely licensed products. The only way for Sony to get a percentage of those ancillary dollars is if they licensing is based on designs created by their production.
In other words, if Sony made a 1:1 MOTU film, Matty owns everything. It's akin to the Lucasfilm/Fox lesson of Star Wars. All Sony would have is the master print and in today's digital world, that value has plummeted. To make it worse, if the franchise exploded in popularity, Matty could pull a Marvel and demand a larger percentage of the profits or else they won't license for synergy marketing.
The best bet would have been for Mattel to start their own production arm like Hasbro has sorta, kinda done. I've said for years the smart play was co-produce with WWE to share production costs and pipeline talent directly into roles. They could have had Cena as He-Man, Batista as Skeletor, Austin as Man-At-Arms etc...that would've brought Arnold and Rock for cameos and hit the right tone of adventure and absurdity.Comment
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They actually don't and the rights are really kinda complicated. Mattel sold the rights to Hallmark in the 90s. Now DreamWorks/Classic Media owns the rights to the property. Also, Masters of the Universe and She-Ra are two separate licenses.You are a bold and courageous person, afraid of nothing. High on a hill top near your home, there stands a dilapidated old mansion. Some say the place is haunted, but you don't believe in such myths. One dark and stormy night, a light appears in the topmost window in the tower of the old house. You decide to investigate... and you never return...Comment
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As for She-Ra, the cartoon remake rights would reside with Dreamworks, but the overall ip still resides with Mattel. Much like the DC deal, Matty paid Filmation for the original production and in return attained the rights. Since She-Ra was created as an off-shoot of He-Man it's falls under the MOTU umbrella as a subsidiary. If DW tried to move on a live-action project, Sony could block it.
It may be a case of Matty being surprised by the Netflix announcement and wanting Sony to move ahead on MOTU. I haven't found a press release from Mattel championing the Netflix show.Comment
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Hallmark already owned the Filmation Library by that point. Mattel then sold Hallmark the entertainment rights to the MOTU property in the 90s. DreamWorks/Universal flat out owns all of She-Ra. They also own the Filmation versions of MOTU characters. Mattel retains a limited co-ownership of the original MOTU toy designs. It's really complicated.You are a bold and courageous person, afraid of nothing. High on a hill top near your home, there stands a dilapidated old mansion. Some say the place is haunted, but you don't believe in such myths. One dark and stormy night, a light appears in the topmost window in the tower of the old house. You decide to investigate... and you never return...Comment
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You are a bold and courageous person, afraid of nothing. High on a hill top near your home, there stands a dilapidated old mansion. Some say the place is haunted, but you don't believe in such myths. One dark and stormy night, a light appears in the topmost window in the tower of the old house. You decide to investigate... and you never return...Comment
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I knew Filmation was apart of the library, but at that time the MOTU film rights were at WB via Cannon, a deal that predates Hallmark. Ent Rights (Filmation owners via Hallmark buyout in '04) was bought by Boom Media in April of '09. WB passed on MOTU in Sept '09 and the film rights reverted back to Matty, who then went to Sony.
So whatever Hallmark ownership and hush-hush NDA TGuru was referring to didn't include the film rights to MOTU as those were already betrothed to Canon, most likely in a similar deal Marvel had for Spidey and Cap at that time. For example, if Sony ever passes on producing a Spidey flick, the rights go straight to Marvel, not Disney as the Sony deal is still based on the bones of Canon/Marvel circa '85 or so.
I'd bet Matty sold their MOTU Filmation interest to Hallmark in the late 90's which would explain the split with POP, where I thought it fell as a subsidiary.Comment
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Universal owns the entertainment rights to MOTU. Once Sony's movie right run out it goes back to Universal.You are a bold and courageous person, afraid of nothing. High on a hill top near your home, there stands a dilapidated old mansion. Some say the place is haunted, but you don't believe in such myths. One dark and stormy night, a light appears in the topmost window in the tower of the old house. You decide to investigate... and you never return...Comment
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Yeah, the rights timeline is fairly complicated. But Mattel has not had the entertainment rights to MOTU since they sold it to Hallmark in the mid 90s.
As far as I can tell it breaks down like this:
Hallmark sold the rights in 2004 to Entertainment rights. Boomerang Media bought out Entertainment Rights in 2009. They then rebranded under the name Classic Media. DreamWorks bought Classic Media in 2012. Universal then finally got the rights when they bought DreamWorks in 2016. It's kinda nuts how complicated it isYou are a bold and courageous person, afraid of nothing. High on a hill top near your home, there stands a dilapidated old mansion. Some say the place is haunted, but you don't believe in such myths. One dark and stormy night, a light appears in the topmost window in the tower of the old house. You decide to investigate... and you never return...Comment
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