Adorably childlike producers still want to play with He-Man movie

By Sean O'Neal | July 31, 2012 | 4:02pm

Aux Features Film

Having never lost the sense of childlike wonder that allowed them to believe in a viable film franchise based on Masters Of The Universe, the young-at-heart scamps at Mattel have held onto their years-old plan to retell the story of He-Man et al. with a new, Dolph Lundgren-denying live-action film and subsequent cross-promotional merchandising platform that has no doubt been outlined with lots of adorable backwards "R"s. Today Deadline reports that Jon M. Chu, G.I. Joe: Retaliation director and favored toy movie playmate, is currently in talks to take over a project that's been kicking around since at least 2007, when it was at the vanguard of movies based on '80s nostalgia properties, in the sense that "vanguard" should ever be used within that context.

Since then, of course, Masters passed through an incarnation at Warner Bros. that failed to match Mattel's "creative vision" for how the swords-and-sandals-and-synergy franchise should be revived, with Mattel eventually commissioning a Sony-led overhaul with an all-new script from Three Musketeers writers Alex Litvak and Mike Finch. Whether it actually, finally moves forward with Chu at the helm is probably irrelevant, however, as it just provides another excuse to offer up jokes about, say, Channing Tatum playing He-Man to Angelina Jolie's Skeletor. Playtime is important.