World News: The Power Rangers Will Live to Morph Again

Hot off the heels of Hollywood’s recent trend of reviving properties that were popular in the nineties, from Girl Meets World to the upcoming Ninja Turtles reboot, it was only a matter of time before the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers were called upon to save Angel Grove once again

Earlier today, Haim Saban and Lionsgate revealed plans on the Official Lionsgate Twitter to produce a new live-action film based on the iconic series that followed the adventures of a diverse group of American teenagers with curiously Japanese taste in power suits and transforming robots. No word yet on whether they will once again do battle with Rita Repulsa or a villain with slightly less alliteration.

The reasoning behind the move is open for conjecture, but my guess is somebody at Lionsgate must have noted the year-by-year growth in Halloween merchandise sales amongst teenyboppers over the past year.  In the press release Saban and Lionsgate announced that the series will be the start of "a new franchise" so there are likely plans for more than one film in the works.

 “Lionsgate is the perfect home for elevating our Power Rangers brand to the next level,” Saban said. “They have the vision, marketing prowess and incredible track record in launching breakthrough hits from ‘The Hunger Games' to ‘Twilight' and ‘Divergent.’  In partnership with the Lionsgate team, we're confident that we will capture the world of the Power Rangers and translate it into a unique and memorable motion picture phenomenon with a legacy all its own.”

“The new film franchise will re-envision the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, a group of high school kids who are infused with unique and cool super powers but must harness and use those powers as a team if they have any hope of saving the world.”

By comparing the new series to The Hunger Games and Twilight it sounds like the producers are planning to give the story of a group of super-powered martial artist enthusiasts who battle space ninjas and hang out at a juice bar in SoCal a little more of depth than the formulaic original incarnation. Maybe that means the film will finally provide a firm answer on why the Power Rangers always chose to fight monsters in hand-to-hand combat until it started destroying skyscrapers as a giant before they finally called upon their zords. 

 

For my money, the endless cycle of Hollywood reusing proven properties is not news and considering the action-packed nature of the Power Rangers I think this could turn out to be a successful franchise. Moreover, since the film's producers will not have to tailor the plot so that it coincides with footage of Japanese television show Kyōryū Sentai, the possibilities for this film are truly wide open. Who knows, we might see some intriguing sub-plots like the Blue Ranger as a genius software developer who needs to learn social skills and the Black Ranger as a basketball hockey star that needs to learn teamwork. Or better yet - maybe the Green and Pink Ranger will finally kiss!