Masters of the Universe is no longer just having a bad opening. The numbers are now coming into focus for its full run, and they point to one of the most significant box office losses Hollywood has seen in years.
By the industry’s standard benchmark — outlined recently by Puck News, which notes executives look for a film to gross 2.5 times its production budget just to break even — Masters of the Universe needed roughly $500 million worldwide to get into the black, based on Variety‘s report that the budget ran as high as $200 million.
It is tracking toward a fraction of that, leaving it on course to finish around $400 million below that break-even bar.
Discount Tuesday Couldn’t Help
Tuesday was supposed to offer a small lift thanks to discount pricing. It barely moved the needle.
Masters of the Universe took in about $3.16 million on its first Discount Tuesday, and even with the cheaper tickets, it still came in under Mortal Kombat II, which did roughly $3.7 million on its own first Tuesday.
That continues the pattern we flagged on Monday: He-Man is tracking beneath a movie that already massively bombed.
Where This Is Headed
The Mortal Kombat II comparison is useful because that film’s entire run is already known, which lets us project where Masters of the Universe lands.
Through five days, Mortal Kombat II had earned roughly $45 million domestically. Masters of the Universe sits at about $34.7 million over the same stretch, running well behind.
Mortal Kombat II ultimately finished with around $79 million domestic. If Masters of the Universe holds to the same downward pace, it projects to land somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 million domestically.
Overseas is where it gets worse. Mortal Kombat II pulled about $49 million from foreign markets. But Masters of the Universe has been notably soft internationally, with just $25 million from 86 territories so far and reports of weak overseas interest.
Even if we are generous and hand He-Man a foreign haul matching Mortal Kombat II‘s, the movie still only gets to roughly $110 million worldwide, and the real number could come in lower.
A Historic-Tier Loss
Put it together and the math is grim.
A worldwide total in the $100 million to $110 million range, against a production budget reported as high as $200 million plus a marketing spend on top, points to an estimated loss in the $200 million-plus range once theaters take their roughly 50% cut of every ticket.
That is the kind of number that puts Masters of the Universe in genuinely infamous company.
Disney’s John Carter is widely cited as one of the biggest financial flops in movie history, with an estimated loss of $200 million or more. The Lone Ranger is in the same range. Same with The Marvels, which reported a $237M loss.
A loss of that size would place Masters of the Universe right alongside those notorious bombs, not a footnote, but a genuine entry in the conversation about Hollywood’s costliest misfires.
Another Drop Is Coming
It is also about to get uglier in the immediate term.
Mortal Kombat II fell 65.2% in its second weekend, collapsing to $13.4 million. Given that Masters of the Universe is tracking even lower, a similar second-weekend nosedive is likely, which would only accelerate the slide toward that projected final number.
“Truly Special”
Through all of it, Amazon’s position has not changed. The studio’s distribution chief called the opening “truly special” and framed it as validation of a “holistic” strategy that extends beyond theaters.
A movie tracking $400 million below its break-even benchmark, on pace for a loss that rivals the most infamous flops in modern Hollywood history, is many things. “Truly special” is not the phrase most would reach for.
Box office numbers as of Tuesday:
Grosses
- Domestic (58.1%): $34,699,997
- International (41.9%): $25,000,000
- Worldwide: $59,699,997
Weekend: Jun 5-7 $29,439,929
Daily:
- Thur/Fri June 5: $11,700,174
- Sat June 6: $10,011,912
- Sun June 7: $7,727,843
- Mon June 8: $2,098,423
- Tues June 9: $3,161,645
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