Prime Video‘s new fantasy epic continues a streaming trend that is perfect for a few movie franchises that viewers may have lost hope on seeing more entries from. Prime Video’s movie library has seen many hits this year, going from Prime Video original movies, such as Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War, to licensed films, including Ryan Gosling’s Project Hail Mary.
When it comes to the fantasy genre, Prime Video might just be the streaming service to be. Sure, I know that HBO Max is the home of the Game of Thrones franchise, which has dominated pop culture discourse on TV for over a decade. That said, between animated series and live-action movies, Prime Video has an intriguing fantasy roster.
After all, the biggest fantasy series of all time is from Prime Video, as The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is an extremely ambitious foray into Tolkien lore, with the appropriate price tag to match. That said, my favorite Prime Video fantasy series is Critical Role’s The Legend of Vox Machina, which feels like a Dungeons & Dragons session with friends, because that is where it started.
While Prime Video’s roster of successful series is filled with fantasy projects, fans of the genre can also find exciting movies on the streaming service, one of which is the 2026 version of Masters of the Universe. This latest He-Man adventure is vibrant, visually appealing, has a talented cast, one of Jared Leto’s best recent performances, engaging action, and it is part of a movie trend.
2026 Master Of The Universe’s Prime Video Success Is Part Of A Larger Trend
Masters of the Universe was released in theaters on June 5. The new fantasy movie ended its box office run with $113 million, making it a bomb, as the film had a budget of $170 million. That said, Masters of the Universe has proven itself a global streaming hit, continuing to be Prime Video’s most-watched movie worldwide, according to FlixPatrol, a month after it arrived on the streamer on July 22. In addition to that, according to Puck‘s Matthew Belloni on X, Masters of the Universe racked up 1.173 billion minutes on the Nielsen Top 10 Streaming chart on its Prime Video release week.
Based on the data, while Masters of the Universe might have been a box office bomb, it most certainly is a global streaming hit. This is not the first time that something like that happens in 2026. A few other recent box office bombs that ended up becoming major hits on streaming include movies like Chris Pratt’s intense sci-fi thriller Mercy, also on Prime Video, the action fantasy video game adaptation Mortal Kombat II on HBO Max, and Ana de Armas’ John Wick action thriller spinoff Ballerina, also on HBO Max. This trend could change the game.
Master Of The Universe & Other Box Office Bombs That Became Streaming Hits Could Still Get Sequels
All these movies might not have worked on the big screen, but they still managed to help the streaming services drive up subscription numbers. In certain cases, there are films made these days that, from the first look, it is easy to tell they could be major hits on streaming, but will not thrive on the big screen, given the bigger competition and how pricey movie tickets have become. Pratt’s Mercy was one I was sure would fall under that, and so it did. That said, this might not be the end of the road for those who hoped to start franchises.
If they are such major streaming hits, then why not just make sequels for movies like Masters of the Universe on streaming services? An interesting example, though not of a box office bomb that became a streaming hit, is just how far Netflix was willing to go to secure the rights for Knives Out sequels, reportedly paying director Rian Johnson and star Daniel Craig $100 million each. By making sequels to Masters of the Universe and other movies that failed in theaters but found an audience on streaming, the streamers would get similar value at a fraction of the Knives Out deal’s cost.
- Release Date
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June 3, 2026
- Runtime
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141 minutes
- Director
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Travis Knight
- Writers
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Aaron Nee, Chris Butler, Dave Callaham, Adam Nee
- Producers
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DeVon Franklin, Jason Blumenthal, Robbie Brenner, Todd Black
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Nicholas Galitzine
Adam Glenn / He-Man
