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.
A Compendium of Enchanted Cinema How Well Do You Know Fantasy Movies? “Magic always comes with a price.”
🪄SpellsWingardium Leviosa
🐉BeastsHere be dragons
👑KingdomsLong live the king
⚔QuestsThe hero’s journey
🔮MagicWhat lies ahead
01
Across the Harry Potter films, the boy wizard is rarely without his loyal companion — a snowy owl gifted to him by Hagrid on his eleventh birthday. What is the owl’s name?
✓ Correct! Hedwig — the snowy owl Harry receives in The Philosopher’s Stone — becomes one of his most beloved companions. Errol is the Weasleys’ ancient, accident-prone owl; Pigwidgeon is Ron’s tiny hyperactive owl; and Crookshanks is Hermione’s ginger cat — not an owl at all.
✗ Not quite! The answer is Hedwig. Errol is the Weasleys’ clumsy family owl, Pigwidgeon is Ron’s tiny owl from later books, and Crookshanks is Hermione’s cat. Hedwig is the snowy owl Hagrid buys Harry for his birthday — even getting her own leitmotif from composer John Williams.
02
In Rob Reiner’s 1987 cult classic The Princess Bride, the farm boy Westley answers Buttercup’s every demand with the same three words — which she comes to realize actually mean “I love you.” What does he say?
✓ Correct! “As you wish” is Westley’s signature line — and the film’s emotional core. “Inconceivable!” is Vizzini’s catchphrase (prompting Inigo’s famous “You keep using that word…”). The other two were never in William Goldman’s script — the whole point is that three plain words carry all the meaning.
✗ Not quite! The answer is “As you wish.” “Inconceivable!” belongs to the Sicilian Vizzini. Buttercup slowly realizes that Westley’s endlessly repeated “As you wish” is really his way of saying “I love you” — one of the most quoted lines in fantasy cinema.
03
The 2006 Spanish-language masterpiece Pan’s Labyrinth blends a fascist-era fairy tale with the grim reality of post-Civil War Spain, featuring the nightmarish Pale Man. Which director created this dark fantasy?
✓ Correct! Guillermo del Toro wrote and directed Pan’s Labyrinth, designing the Faun and the eyeless Pale Man himself. He’d later win Best Director and Best Picture for The Shape of Water. Cuarón directed Prisoner of Azkaban; Almodóvar is Spain’s great melodramatist; Rodriguez is del Toro’s close friend but made Sin City and Spy Kids.
✗ Not quite! The answer is Guillermo del Toro. Alfonso Cuarón (a fellow “Three Amigos” of Mexican cinema) directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Pedro Almodóvar makes Spanish melodramas, and Robert Rodriguez made Sin City. Del Toro’s creature designs in Pan’s Labyrinth are now iconic.
04
In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), the four Pevensie children first stumble into the snowy land of Narnia by passing through what object?
✓ Correct! It’s a wardrobe — it’s right there in the title. Lucy hides inside during a game and finds the snow and lamppost of Narnia beyond the fur coats. A magical painting actually appears in the sequel, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; the mirror and well are red herrings from other fantasy tales.
✗ Not quite! The answer is a wardrobe — literally named in the title. Lucy Pevensie pushes past the coats and steps out into snowy Narnia by the lamppost. (A magical painting does pull the children into the sea in the later film The Voyage of the Dawn Treader — but not here.)
05
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) made Oscar history as the first fantasy film to win Best Picture, sweeping every category it was nominated in. How many Academy Awards did it take home?
✓ Correct! Return of the King won all 11 of its nominations — tying Ben-Hur (1959) and Titanic (1997) for the all-time record, and becoming the first (and so far only) fantasy film to win Best Picture. Remarkably, it earned zero acting nominations yet still swept the board clean.
✗ Not quite! The answer is 11 — a perfect clean sweep. Return of the King tied Ben-Hur and Titanic for the most Oscar wins ever and broke fantasy’s long Best Picture drought. Fellowship of the Ring won 4 and The Two Towers won 2; the finale took everything it was nominated for.
06
In the swashbuckling Pirates of the Caribbean films, Johnny Depp earned an Oscar nomination playing a swaggering, kohl-eyed pirate captain reportedly inspired by Keith Richards. What is the character’s name?
✓ Correct! Captain Jack Sparrow — Depp’s loose-limbed, rum-soaked performance earned a surprise Best Actor nomination for The Curse of the Black Pearl. Will Turner is the blacksmith hero (Orlando Bloom), Davy Jones is the tentacle-faced villain (Bill Nighy), and Hector Barbossa is the mutinous rival captain (Geoffrey Rush).
✗ Not quite! The answer is Captain Jack Sparrow. Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) is the earnest blacksmith, Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) is the squid-faced sea villain, and Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) is the cursed rival. It was Depp’s Sparrow — modeled partly on Keith Richards — who earned the Oscar nod.
07
Jim Henson’s 1986 musical fantasy Labyrinth features a teenage Jennifer Connelly navigating a maze to rescue her baby brother from the flamboyant, wild-haired Goblin King Jareth. Which rock legend played Jareth?
✓ Correct! David Bowie played Jareth, writing and performing the film’s songs including “Magic Dance” and “As the World Falls Down.” Tim Curry famously played the demon Darkness in another Ridley Scott fantasy, Legend (also 1985-86). Jagger and Sting are rock icons but never donned Jareth’s glittering cape and wild wig.
✗ Not quite! The answer is David Bowie. Tim Curry played the towering devil Darkness in the rival fantasy Legend around the same time. Bowie not only starred as Jareth the Goblin King but composed and sang the soundtrack — “Magic Dance” remains the film’s signature number.
08
In the 1984 classic The NeverEnding Story, the young warrior Atreyu journeys across the dying realm of Fantasia and befriends a furry, dog-faced luckdragon who carries him through the skies. What is the luckdragon’s name?
✓ Correct! Falkor (Falkor the luckdragon) is the friendly, scale-and-fur covered dragon who aids Atreyu and Bastian. Artax is Atreyu’s horse, lost heartbreakingly in the Swamp of Sadness; Gmork is the wolf-like servant of The Nothing; and Bastian is the real-world boy reading the story who is ultimately drawn into it.
✗ Not quite! The answer is Falkor. Artax is Atreyu’s beloved horse (the Swamp of Sadness scene scarred a generation), Gmork is the menacing wolf-beast serving The Nothing, and Bastian is the bullied boy reading the book. Falkor is the soaring luckdragon — one of fantasy cinema’s most cherished creatures.
The Grimoire Closes · Quest Complete Your Fantasy Rank
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Archmage of the Silver Screen — or still lost in the labyrinth?
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
Credit: MovieStillsDB
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.
