In news that’s sure to psyche up my nephew, as well as my inner 9-year-old, Lionsgate and Saban Brands are teaming up to resurrect the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers as a big-screen, live-action film franchise. Naturally, this film will be in addition to the litany of Power Rangers properties already existing on TV, such as Power Rangers Samurai and Power Rangers Megaforce.
The film franchise deal was announced by Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer and Haim Saban, whose company launched Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers in 1993. The popular action show has been in continuous production virtually every year since, in different iterations, such as Zeo, Turbo, Lost Galaxy, Time Force, Wild Force, Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder, Mystic Force, and the most recent reinventions, Super Samurai and Super Megaforce. Basically, the Power Rangers brand is the Duggar family of kids’ action show franchises.
The announcement comes only a day after Saban unveiled Saban Films, a North American distribution operation that intends to “acquire and distribute eight to 10 movies a year.” This sounds like a much more advanced, hardcore version of the Warner Bros. plan to release nine DC Comics movies over the next several years. But then, one presumes that by “acquire and distribute,” Saban is stating that not all of these films will be in-house productions. At least not to the standard the company is aiming for with this Power Rangers reboot. The first film in the new, prospective Power Rangers film franchise will be the centerpiece of the new division, and will focus on “re-envisioning the Rangers, a group of teenagers chosen to protect the world from a group of alien invaders.”
“Lionsgate is the perfect home for elevating our Power Rangers brand to the next level,” said Saban in a statement. “They have the vision, marketing prowess and incredible track record in launching breakthrough hits from ‘The Hunger Games’ to ‘Twilight’ and ‘Divergent.’”
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Haim Saban and his team to maximize the potential of this immensely successful and universally recognized franchise,” said Feltheimer. “The Power Rangers stories and characters have been embraced by generations of audiences for more than 20 years, and today they are more powerful than ever.”
This new film will be the first Power Rangers movie since 1997′s Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, which acted as a bridge between the Zeo and Turbo TV seasons. It’s unknown if these new movies will be used to bridge TV seasons, or if it will feature the cast of one of the TV seasons, such as the original big-screen Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers movie from 1995. But given the involvement of Lionsgate, the studio behind the massively successful Hunger Games franchise, I’m guessing the movies themselves will take priority over any TV series in production. Given how well The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is doing at the box office, and how successful The Hunger Games franchise is (digital Phillip Seymour Hoffman recreation notwithstanding), I think the general climate at the movies is very welcoming for action movies that skew young.
No word on when we can expect the film, but…well, is it bad that I’m kind of excited?
Via: Variety
Credit: Saban
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