After Bombing in Theaters, Amazon’s $200M Sci-Fi Epic Is a Prime Video Sensation 3 Weeks Running

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Published Aug 13, 2026, 1:20 PM EDT

Audiences skipped this $170 million blockbuster in theaters. On streaming, they can’t seem to get enough of it.

Image: Giles Keyte/Amazon MGM/Everett Collection

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A disappointing box-office run or subpar reviews doesn’t necessarily mean a movie is finished. Streaming platforms have become an increasingly reliable place for films to find the audience they missed the first time around. Liam Neeson’s 2024 crime thriller In the Land of Saints and Sinners, for example, recently surged into Netflix’s top 10 two years after its theatrical release. And Netflix’s The Last House shot to No. 1 worldwide despite a miserable 27% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes. Now, one of this summer’s biggest box-office disappointments has pulled off a similar trick on Prime Video.

Masters of the Universe, director Travis Knight’s live-action He-Man movie released by Amazon MGM Studios, has become a surprisingly persistent streaming hit after bombing in theaters earlier this summer. According to FlixPatrol, the movie has spent 21 days in Prime Video’s top 10 — that’s an impressive turnaround for a $170 million blockbuster that earned just $113.8 million worldwide.

Masters of the Universe is better than the box office suggests

Image: Amazon MGM Studios

Masters of the Universe follows Prince Adam (Nicholas Galitzine), who escapes Eternia as a child after Skeletor (Jared Leto) seizes control of the kingdom. Adam winds up stranded on Earth for a decade, growing into a young man with a dead-end HR job before finally recovering the Sword of Power and returning home to fight for Eternia.

Fans of the film may not have shown up in theaters, but they've been showing up on Prime Video to see what their favorite action-figure turned movie star is up to. Mattel launched the toyline in the early 1980s, with He-Man quickly becoming one of the decade’s defining action figures before expanding into the hugely popular He-Man and the Masters of the Universe animated series and, eventually, the 1987 live-action movie starring Dolph Lundgren.

The new film received fairly solid reviews overall — it currently sits at a 67% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with an 86% audience score — but Polygon was considerably more enthusiastic.

Our review called it a “nearly perfect sci-fi fantasy epic,” praising Knight’s colorful, maximalist take on Eternia and describing it as the kind of big, sincere action-adventure spectacle Hollywood rarely makes anymore.

Will there be a Masters of the Universe sequel?

Whether the post-theatrical run enthusiasm will make up for the bombed box office and pave the way for a sequel remains to be seen. Knight told Polygon that a sequel is ultimately “up to the world,” saying he’d happily return if audiences demand more. The movie’s post-credits scene certainly leaves the door open, teasing She-Ra and giving Amazon an obvious path forward if it decides to give the franchise another shot on the big screen.