UPDATE (Monday actuals): The collapse is confirmed, and it’s worse than the estimates suggested. Masters of the Universe fell 70.6% in its second weekend, an even steeper drop than the Friday projection. That edges past even The Mandalorian & Grogu‘s 70.1% second-weekend decline, meaning He-Man has now out-bombed both of the flops it’s been compared to — Mortal Kombat II (-65.2%) and Mandalorian & Grogu (-70.1%) — in the one metric that measures whether a movie has any legs. It has none.
Masters of the Universe is falling apart in its second weekend, and the international numbers are turning a bad situation into a potentially historic one.
Per Friday estimates via Deadline, the He-Man reboot is dropping roughly 68% to a projected $9.4 million three-day, sliding all the way to fifth place.
Saturday update: Estimates have dropped to $9.2 million three-day, sliding all the way to fifth place, a 69% drop.
Weekend actuals will be confirmed Sunday, but the trajectory is unmistakable, and it backs up everything we have reported since the previews.
Bracketed By Two Bombs
That projected ~69% drop puts Masters of the Universe right in the company of the recent flops we have been comparing it to all along.
Mortal Kombat II fell 65.2% in its second weekend. The Mandalorian & Grogu dropped around 70%.
He-Man is landing squarely between two movies that both bombed, and it is doing so from a lower starting point than either. A second-weekend collapse this steep is the clearest possible sign there are no legs here.
Masters of the Universe had already fallen below Mortal Kombat II on its first Monday and continues to do so in the dailies, so a second-weekend drop that mirrors that film’s collapse was the expected outcome.
The International Numbers Aren’t Moving
Here is the detail that should alarm Amazon most.
Masters of the Universe opened to $25 million internationally across 86 territories, and as of the latest figures, that number has not budged. The overseas total is essentially frozen at $25 million, which for a globally recognized brand is a genuine red flag. That could change this weekend, but again, don’t expect a bump.
Compare that to Mortal Kombat II, which pulled nearly double overseas at $49.3 million on its way to a $128.6 million worldwide finish, which in itself is a massive bomb. He-Man isn’t just trailing a known flop domestically; it is being lapped by it internationally.
Will It Even Hit $100 Million?
Put the pieces together and a once-unthinkable question is now real.
As of Thursday, Masters of the Universe sits at roughly $38 million domestic and $25 million international for a worldwide total of about $63 million.
With international flatlined at $25 million, even that looks optimistic, and a finish under $100 million worldwide is now firmly in play.
That would make an already brutal result even worse.
By the industry’s 2.5x benchmark, the movie needed roughly $500 million to break even against a budget reported as high as $200 million, leaving it on pace to miss break-even by around $400 million and headed for a projected loss in the $200 million-plus range, territory that rivals notorious flops like John Carter and The Lone Ranger.
Streaming Is Coming Soon
If Masters of the Universe follows the Mortal Kombat II playbook, the next step is obvious.
Mortal Kombat II hit VOD just 30 days after its theatrical release once it became clear there was nothing left to gain in theaters.
With He-Man cratering even faster, and with Amazon already framing the movie’s value as something that extends “beyond the theatrical window,” a quick trip to Prime Video looks likely. The studio has every incentive to cut the theatrical run short and start chasing streaming engagement instead.
The previews warned about it. The opening confirmed it. The worldwide debut sealed it. And now the second-weekend crash — with international refusing to move — suggests Masters of the Universe may end up as an even bigger disaster than anyone first projected.
