Can He-Mans Masters of the Universe Generate the Same Movie Magic as Barbie?

How do you follow a $1.5 billion blockbuster like the “Barbie” movie?If you’re Mattel, the toy giant, you turn to the next doll in your dollhouse.Or rather, the next action figure.He-Man was the company’s hypermasculine follow-up to the runaway success of the Barbie doll, as popular with boys in the mid-1980s as the 11½-inch bombshell was with girls.On Friday, he will get his own $170 million live-action movie, “Masters of the Universe,” Mattel’s second foray into making films centered on nostalgic toys far more familiar to parents than the children of today.

Movies about Hot Wheels and Polly Pocket are also in the works.“Matchbox: The Movie,” starring John Cena, will debut on Apple TV in the fall.In many ways, “Masters of the Universe” is a bigger gamble for Mattel’s ambitions to cement itself as a Hollywood powerhouse than “Barbie” was.

Whereas the Barbie brand has remained relevant for generations, He-Man has been firmly stuck in the amber of the ’80s.Today’s cynical moviegoer, raised on sleek “Star Wars” and Marvel franchises, may scoff at the campy golden locks and earnest demeanor of the original He-Man character.Mattel executives are already trying to set expectations.“We’ve always said that not every movie will be the next ‘Barbie,’” Mattel’s chief executive, Ynon Kreiz, said in an interview at the company’s headquarters in El Segundo, Calif.

“We don’t need every movie to be the next ‘Barbie’ for those movies to be important, to have real impact.”The 81-year-old toymaker’s turn to Hollywood follows similar efforts from Disney to exploit the Marvel universe.For decades, toy companies operated on a licensing model, selling their characters to film studios for a flat fee and a small cut of sales.

That left them at the mercy of outside creative executives who often let projects languish.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank yo...