Amazon MGM Studios entered the summer of 2026 hoping to relaunch one of Mattel’s oldest toy properties as a full-blown movie franchise with Masters of the Universe. The project had spent years bouncing between Sony and Netflix, with the latter reportedly abandoning roughly $30 million in development work before Amazon MGM finally carried the reboot to theaters. Director Travis Knight assembled a starry ensemble around Prince Adam (Nicholas Galitzine), including Jared Leto as Skeletor, Idris Elba as Duncan, Camila Mendes as Teela, and Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn, all working with a production budget as high as $200 million. Despite that considerable investment, the film failed to connect with mainstream audiences during its theatrical run, leaving Amazon searching for another avenue to recoup its investment and gauge demand for more stories set on Eternia.
Masters of the Universe will begin streaming on Prime Video on July 22nd, barely seven weeks after its June 5 theatrical premiere. This timeline confirms Amazon MGM is skipping the paid digital rental window that most studios use to squeeze extra revenue from a title before it reaches a subscription library. Prime members will be able to stream the film at no additional cost starting that date, a rare move for a nine-figure production and a clear signal of how quickly Amazon wants Masters of the Universe generating viewership data it can use to plan ahead.
Can Masters of the Universe Get a Sequel Thanks to Streaming?
Masters of the Universe was never designed as a one-and-done story. Knight has said publicly that the film’s ending was built to support future installments, and he has described wanting to explore what comes next for Adam once he has fully embraced life as He-Man, along with how his relationships with Teela and the rest of the Eternia cast continue to evolve. That kind of long-term planning only pays off if Amazon actually commissions another chapter, and the studio has given no formal indication that a sequel is currently in development. The disappointing theatrical run complicates things considerably, as Masters of the Universe finished its theatrical run with $113 million, barely half its budget. When marketing and the theaters cut is factored in, that leaves the movie a couple hundred million dollars in the red. It’s easy to see that does not inspire a studio to immediately fund a follow-up.
Streaming performance offers Masters of the Universe a second chance to justify its existence. A surge in viewership could give Amazon MGM Studios a set of numbers that convinces the company there’s still hope for Eternia. That said, even a strong showing on Prime Video would not guarantee a sequel with the same $200 million budget as the original. Any follow-up would likely need a leaner production model, fewer expensive reshoots, and a tighter shooting schedule to make financial sense for Amazon. Still, Masters of the Universe delivers a genuinely fun take on Eternia’s mythology, and it deserved a stronger reception than its box office numbers suggest.
Masters of the Universe begins streaming on Prime Video on July 22nd.
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