2014 has served moviegoers its fair share of 90's nostalgia with Michael Bay's massively successful Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot, and might get another serving with Lionsgate's announcement of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie. This isn't at all a bad move as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which came out a few weeks ago, has already raked in a reported $79 million in only five days; it would be a no-brainer for Lionsgate to reboot the 'Rangers' series.
It has been reported that writers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz (who are best known for writing comic book movies Thor and X Men: First Class) are doing the script with Brian Casentini, Allison Shearmur and the Haim Saban, president of Saban Entertainment who produced the original Power Rangers TV series.
The story revisits the origin of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, a group of ordinary high school student given super powers working together to save the world.
The characters first gained its notoriety in 1993 thanks to Fox Kids TV in a series of the same name that became a popular hit with children. This led to a spinoff theatrical feature called "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie" which was released only 2 years after the TV series came out. The original series, which ran until 1996 was given a new title under the name "Power Rangers" with different subtitles in every season, along with it new characters and new vehicles. A second movie, "Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie" followed in 1997. The show is originally adapted from a long running series from Japan called "Super Sentai Series", recycling footage from Japan to cut costs in the US production.
Initially it was Roberto Orci who was rumored helming the project, but eventually dropped out, instead went on to debut as a director in Star Trek 3; it has has been reported last week that he dropped out of that movie as well. Orci is also responsible developing stories as a writer for blockbuster franchises namely: Transformers, Star Trek, and Amazing Spider Man 2.
The Power Rangers Movie is expected to come out on July 22, 2016 - going up against Guy Ritchie's retelling of "King Arthur".
For more updates on The Power Rangers reboot, stay tuned to The Franchise Herald.
