10 Things You Didn't Know About Masters Of The Universe
7. Both Cannon And Mattel Were Going Bankrupt Whilst Making The Film
Mattel, the owners of He-Man, had high hopes of success with a motion picture. They went to many film studios, with both Universal and Cannon Films interested. Cannon, who were trying to break into more mainstream films, made them an offer they couldnt refuse: Mattel would put up half the money and Cannon would put up the other half. Mattel duly paid their half to help start pre-production, but the money was quickly burnt through. However, accordingly to Production Designer William Stout, when Cannon were due to hold up their end, they responded with a firm no. At the time, Cannon had an astonishing 84 films in production (Warners had the next most, with six), and with no money to spare, Cannon were on the brink of bankruptcy. So if Mattel wanted to see the movie finished, they would have to pay the other half, with overall costs rising from $17 million to $22 million. As the film pressed on with production, Cannons situation got a lot worse, and they had to scrape money together to pay the crew (see No.6), who almost walked away from the shoot many times, and director Gary Goddard gave up most of his salary to help finish the film. This, sadly, was just the tip of the iceberg.
Lover of Batman, Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Christopher Nolan and Will Ferrell. Sucker for comic-book movies, indies, Jennifer Lawrence, tea and Tottenham.
Favourite films: Terminator 2, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Masters of the Universe, Dumb and Dumber, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Sideways, American Psycho, Garden State, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Lost In Translation.
