The movie industry has problems. In fact it has many.
One minute the industry is flinging IPs at the screen in an attempt to create the next MCU (frustrating audiences in the process), while the next it is restructuring and rebooting, abandoning plans at the drop of a hat (frustrating audiences in the process). Either way, it is in a constant state of flux and often doesn’t seem to know its arse from its elbow.
Yet arguably one of the industry’s biggest problems right now isn’t a self-inflicted wound. The problem is being caused by entertainment publications who are writing off movies which haven’t even opened yet, killing momentum with careless abandon.
The result? New movies debuting to headlines which claim they are flops, tarnishing the picture in the process.
The most recent victim of this is Masters of the Universe, which opened this month to a wave of online articles calling it the biggest flop of 2026. These articles were appearing on Friday June 5th – the day the movie opened in the US.
OK, so the movie had opened in a few parts of the world ahead of the US (here in the UK we got it on the Wednesday), but to write off a movie before it’s even had a full opening weekend is not only premature it’s ridiculous. Actually, it’s just downright irresponsible.
What happened to giving everything a fair go? What happened to publications supporting movies?
That doesn’t mean everyone has to like every film that is released (I sure as heck don’t), but to torpedo a film with words such as ‘flop’ or ‘turkey’ in big attention-seeking articles about box office revenue, before the movie has even been seen by mass audiences, is stupid and mean-spirited.
If you don’t like a film, pop it in a review and tell everyone your thoughts. But to write huge headlines declaring a film is dead on arrival when it hasn’t even started is just unfair.
Now, the counter argument here, which maybe many news sites will claim, is that the headlines were based on ticket pre-sales. Masters was tracking significantly lower than originally anticipated, and the entertainment sites were just reflecting this.
But come on. What happened to movies being given a chance to find an audience? Not everything hits straight away and not everyone goes opening weekend – some things take time.
Jeez, how many times has a show landed on Netflix and you’ve waited until the following week to watch it? This obsession with everything having to be huge from day one is crazy.
And what’s worse is the entertainment sites who seem to have a desire to constantly knock something. And for what? Clicks? Negativity does well on social media, so maybe that’s why it seems so prevalent, but jeez, do better!
Imagine if the same sites had written more positive headlines, changing the angle slightly to say Masters of the Universe was fighting its corner against stiff competition – which of course, it was – what might have happened as a result? Maybe a lot of clicks, as well as some support for a new, enjoyable film.
During opening weekend Masters of the Universe was up against quite a few movies which performed well or better than anticipated. Obsession was (and still is) going strong, Backrooms is very popular right now, and both have gained unexpected momentum.
Then you have two new releases in the shape of Scary Movie, which was always going to do well with teens, and The Amazing Digital Circus, which also has a huge youth following. Many people over a certain age won’t even be aware of The Amazing Digital Circus, but the younger generation certainly do and it has slipped into cinemas and taken a healthy slice of the box office while no one was looking.
All of the above have had an impact on Masters of the Universe, there’s no denying it. But that doesn’t make Masters a bad movie.
Take a look online and you’ll see countless social media posts from cinemagoers who have enjoyed the heck out of it. Some have watched Masters of the Universe twice, some have seen it three times, and others have seen it more than that.
Over on Rotten Tomatoes the audience score for Masters of the Universe is 87%, while on IMDb the rating is currently 7.1/10. These aren’t the type of scores given to bad movies.
It seems as if the audiences who go and watch Masters of the Universe are having fun with it, in the same way they’ve had fun with Marvel movies (Masters does tread similar ground). The problem largely seems to be not enough people are seeing it.
Although I’m sure they will do at some point. And then they will find it highly entertaining and probably comment “I wish I had watched this on the big screen.”
But for now, give audiences a chance to experience it. Give them a chance to come to it themselves.
And if after a few months it doesn’t make the money it should, then write your box office article. But stop penning preemptive poison and stop peddling pessimism.
The movie industry has enough problems. Don’t add to it by derailing great movies.
Oh, and for the record, I’ve watched Masters of the Universe twice. I’ll happily watch it again. It IS as good as fans are telling you.
Alex
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Thank you for stopping by It’s A Stampede! to read this post about Masters of the Universe. For more posts be sure to check out the recommended reads below.
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