Sony's 'Masters of the Universe' movie may be heading to Netflix

Sony is said to be planning to offload its long-in-gestation Masters of the Universe movie to Netflix.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio is in early talks, and may follow Paramount in making certain movies projects directly for the streaming platform.

The Masters of the Universe movie has been in development hell for well over a decade, and was beginning to move forward, with director McG at the helm. Adam and Aaron Nee recently took over the reigns, with a script from Iron Man scribes Matt Holloway and Art Marcum.

Read more: Female-led John Wick spin-off gets director

It was also announced over the summer that Noah Centineo, star of Netflix rom-com To All The Boys I've Loved Before, was set to star as Prince Adam.

Netflix already has the acclaimed She-Ra and the Princesses of Power animated series on its platform, with a new Kevin Smith-made He-Man anime series in the pipeline too.

But according to the THR report, the motive for sending the movie to the streaming service is less to do with brand synergy, and more to do with lessening the financial risk of putting a Masters of the Universe movie out in cinemas.

It comes after the studio lost its shirt on the Men In Black comeback film, Men In Black: International.

Read more: Aniston joins in criticism of the Marvel movies

Despite the solid pairing of Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson in the lead roles (having proved their chemistry in Thor: Ragnarok), the movie tanked.

Hated by critics, it made $253 million at the worldwide box office, with $300 million said to be its break-even point.

A source told THR that Sony has 'this backlog of films that isn’t going to get made and released theatrically', and is looking to offload some of them, adopting a 'Let’s join ‘em, we can’t beat ‘em' attitude to the streaming platform.

If He-Man does end up at Netflix, Sony would be following in the footsteps of Paramount who recently began placing some its productions straight on to the streaming service, bypassing theatrical release entirely for The Cloverfield Paradox and Annihilation.