1. A Sequel Was Announced At The 1987 Cannes Film Festival
When the film was released in August 1987, the film had a very soft opening, coming in at No.3 on its first weekend, with a $4,883,168 opening. Despite that, a sequel was prepped, particularly after the famous Ill be back! after-credits reappearance of Langellas Skeletor. While promoting the film at Cannes in 1987, producer Menahem Golan announced that Lundgren was set to reprise his role as He-Man, and that he had signed for two more films. Lundgren though, had refused to reappear in any proposed sequel, calling the film his lowest point as an actor. Undeterred, Cannon did press on with its plans for a sequel, albeit with a much smaller budget ($4.5 million). They hired director Albert Pyun, who agreed to direct the sequel and a long-gestating Spider-Man film, back-to-back. Professional surfer Laird Hamilton was signed to play He-Man, and he would have gone back to Earth in disguise as a football quarterback to find Skeletor, himself in disguise as an evil industrialist called Aaron Dark. Sadly, Mattel pulled out of the production due to non-payment of monies they were stilled owed, and coupled with Cannons collapse, the film never saw the light of day. Strangely, there was some promotional material created for Part II, and in a last-ditch attempt to salvage money from the sets they had already built, Pyun restructured the script, and made Cyborg, the film that made Jean-Claude Van Dammes name. Even stranger, when it is shown on TV, Cyborg has very often been listed as Masters of the Universe 2: Cyborg. For more on the making of Masters Of The Universe, check out the video below. It forms a big section of the aforementioned "Toy Masters" documentary, which is still awaiting a release, and features interview with Gary Goddard, William Stout, Paul Cleveland and many others.