‘Masters of the Universe’ Eyes Travis Knight as Director – The Hollywood Reporter
Travis Knight, Masters of the Universe
Steve Granitz/WireImage; Everett
Maybe Travis Knight has power.
The LAIKA CEO and part-time director is in early talks to direct the long-running live-action film adaptation. Masters of the universe For Amazon MGM Studios, Hollywood Reporter He confirmed it.
The knight does not come alone. Chris Butler, a longtime collaborator with Knight and LAIKA, wrote and co-directed ParaNorman And he wrote Kobo and the two series, among other projects, he was brought in to rewrite the script. Over the years the project has had drafts from David Callaham, Aaron and Adam Nee.
Escape Artists’ Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal, who have worked on the projects for decades, are producing alongside Mattel’s Robbie Brenner.
Amazon MGM had no comment.
Hollywood has long been trying to center the toy line around Prince Adam, a young man who becomes a tough guy once he gets the Sword of Power in his hands and says the words, “With the power of Grayskull…” on screen. The big screen for decades. Recently, the project moved from Sony to Netflix to Amazon MGM, which still probably doesn’t have a closed deal for the rights but is clearly close to getting it. The sword and sorcery property remains expensive but highly desirable, and Amazon reportedly loves it as something that will appeal to parents, of a generation raised on the original anime and games, and their children.
Knight runs LAIKA, the legendary Oregon-based stop-motion animation company. However, he has also made forays into live action directing, making his debut with Bumblebeea transformers A spin-off show that surprised Hollywood observers and critics by being more cohesive and character-focused than the main show transformers films. Knight has been in the mix for other features, including The six million dollar manBut none of these projects came to fruition.
Al Faris is represented by the Central Auditing Agency. Butler is represented by UTA and attorney Rob Szymanski.
