Masters of the Universe backdrop
Masters of the Universe poster
#6,103 All-time worldwide
#62 1987 releases

Box office snapshot

Financial performance

Reference figures based on available reported data.
Worldwide gross $17.3M
Budget $22.0M
Gross minus budget -$4.7M
ROI 0.79x

Domestic gross

$6.9M

Estimated from worldwide gross

International gross

$10.4M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Opening weekend

$1.9M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Ranking context

Where Masters of the Universe ranks

Positioned across the all-time chart, release year, studio, franchise and genre indexes where enough mapped data exists.
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Quick answer

How did Masters of the Universe (1987) perform at the box office?

High confidence

Masters of the Universe (1987) earned a reported $17.3M worldwide against a reported $22.0M production budget. Its gross-minus-budget figure is about -$4.7M. The current gross-to-budget multiple is 0.79x. In this database it currently ranks #6,103 in the current all-time worldwide chart set and #62 among 1987 releases.

Worldwide gross
$17,336,370
Budget
$22,000,000
Gross minus budget
-$4,663,630
ROI
0.79x
Source: TMDb. Last updated: Jul 13, 2026. View source Gross-minus-budget is not studio net profit. It excludes marketing, distribution fees, revenue splits, tax incentives and later home/streaming revenue.

Synopsis

Story

When the evil Skeletor finds a mysterious power called the Cosmic Key, he becomes nearly invincible, seizing Castle Grayskull and the surrounding city. The Sorceress is now Skeletor's prisoner and he begins to drain her life-force as he waits for the moon of Eternia to align with the Great Eye of the Universe which will bestow god-like power upon him. However, courageous warrior He-Man locates the locksmith inventor Gwildor, who created the Key and has another version of it. During a battle, one of the Keys is transported to Earth, where it is found by teenagers Julie and Kevin. Now, both He-Man and Skeletor's forces arrive on Earth searching for the potent weapon.

Movie facts

Production details

Release date
Aug 7, 1987
Production
Pressman Film, The Cannon Group, Golan-Globus Productions
Countries
US

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AI summary

Why this movie matters

Released in 1987, Masters of the Universe is positioned in this dataset as a Action, Fantasy, Science Fiction title from Pressman Film. Its box office profile shows that available worldwide gross is $17.3M, reported production budget is $22.0M, gross-minus-budget is -$4.7M, ROI is 0.79x. For comparison, it currently sits #6,103 all-time in the current chart set and #62 among 1987 releases. Streaming availability should be checked against the selected United States region because provider rights can change.

AI-generated contextual summary based on available movie, genre, ranking and box office data. It does not replace official distributor notes or financial reporting.
Data noteGross minus budget is not studio net profit. It excludes marketing, distribution fees, revenue splits, tax incentives and downstream revenue. Domestic, international and opening weekend figures marked as estimated are modelled estimates.