Power Rangers (2017) reimagined Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as a blockbuster movie featuring a promising cast of up-and-coming actors, yet the film failed at the box office and never got a sequel. So far, there have been three theatrical Power Rangers movies, of which only 1997’s Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie is considered part of the TV show’s canon. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie was a non-canon adventure featuring the Mighty Morphin cast while Power Rangers (2017) was a reboot set in its own universe, bringing new takes on classic Power Rangers characters and concepts.
In theory, the 2017 Power Rangers movie had all the tools to launch a new franchise. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the first of the Power Rangers TV shows, had always been the most recognizable era of the franchise, and a movie version of it sounded exciting. A Power Rangers movie reboot meant that old a new fans alike could now catch the Power Rangers on the big screen and that the extensive Power Rangers lore – which includes dozens of seasons of television – could someday be adapted into feature films. Unfortunately, Power Rangers (2017) did not live up to its potential.
Power Rangers Struggled With Budget Limitations
The original Power Rangers TV show was far from being an expensive production, especially considering that the vast majority of the action scenes were reused Super Sentai footage. Still, the world viewers were introduced to in the Power Rangers universe was quite ambitious – aliens, monsters, mechas, and magic – something that a theatrical Power Rangers movie would have to capture. By bringing the Power Rangers to the big screen for the first time since Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, Power Rangers (2017) promised to reinvent the saga as a blockbuster-level story in which the Power Rangers lore would get to be properly adapted.
Power Rangers (2017) reportedly had a budget of $100 million, which is a significant number for an action film. Still, for a movie that could have involved multiple set pieces and rivaled superhero movies in terms of scale, Power Rangers’ budget was somewhat limited. For example, according to Power Rangers (2017) director Dean Israelite (via ComicBook.com), the movie could not feature all five Power Rangers’ Power Weapons due to the budget. As a result, only Jason, the Red Ranger, got to use a special CG weapon – the Power Sword. The Power Rangers’ zords only properly appeared for the final fight, and most of the film followed the Rangers unmorphed.
Power Rangers Lacked Ranger Action
As a result of the budget element but also due to creative decisions, the 2017 Power Rangers movie lacked action sequences. While the idea of “Breakfast Club meets Power Rangers” was quite fitting to introduce the stories of five teenagers that would become Power Rangers, the movie focused too much on the Rangers’ civilian lives rather than their superhero lives. The character moments in Power Rangers were great, and it quickly created a connection between the audiences and a set of characters who, despite being new versions of the 1993 Power Rangers, were all unique. Still, those moments should have led to the Power Rangers shining in action sequences.
The Power Rangers only properly morphed once in the Power Rangers movie, an anticlimactic conclusion for a movie that built up its characters so well. Most of Power Rangers’ fighting sequences were actually training sequences in which the Rangers fought virtual versions of Rita’s Puttie Patrol, and there was just only one action scene involving morphed Rangers fighting something real on the ground. As soon as Jason said “It’s morphin’ time“, the team entered their zords ahead of a disappointing final battle for a movie that had so much potential. As the first Power Rangers film in decades, Power Rangers (2017) should have delivered more spectacle.
Power Rangers’ Costume Change Was Too Drastic
The 2017 Power Rangers movie had a very creative redesign for the Rangers’ costumes. A reimagined version of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Power Rangers film could have gone the easy route of simply recreating the classic Mighty Morphin suits, but instead created new costumes. The problem is that as visually interesting as the new Power Rangers costumes were, they were way too different from what audiences were used to regarding Power Rangers. It was difficult to associate the 2017 Power Rangers suits with the original series, and only a closer look at their helmets revealed the connection to the dinosaurs from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Perhaps something closer to the original Power Rangers’ suits would have helped the Power Rangers movie better sell itself as “Mighty Morphin on the big screen”. The idea of the Power Rangers’ new suits coming from an alien symbiote that merges itself with the Rangers could have been kept, yet with a final design that better resembled the original costumes worn by Jason, Trini, Billy, Zack, and Kimberly during Mighty Morphin. The same applies to the putties, Goldar, and even Rita Repulsa, all of whom were too different from their Mighty Morphin counterparts in terms of design.
Power Rangers Saved Too Much For The Planned Sequels
Some of the best things about the 2017 Power Rangers movie only appeared briefly on screen, as if the movie was saving its most interesting concepts for future sequels. For example, Power Rangers’ prologue revealed that, in this continuity, Zordon and Rita were once Power Rangers. The film’s first minutes featured former Green Ranger Rita Repulsa betraying her team and almost killing Zordon, setting up an incredibly exciting take on the Power Rangers universe. However, that was all that the movie showed about Zordon and Rita’s past. Likewise, Power Rangers’ post-credits scene teased Tommy Oliver, yet it did not show the character.
The lack of Ranger action suggested that, after telling an origin story in the first movie, the Power Rangers franchise would return with bigger, more ambitious sequels that would have surely featured the Green Ranger Tommy Oliver. In fact, Power Rangers was envisioned as the first in a series of seven movies that would have gotten to adapt a large part of the Power Rangers mythos. However, No Power Rangers sequel ever happened, and all the worldbuilding and setups in the first film ended up leading nowhere. Perhaps a shorter origin story combined with more Ranger action would have balanced this potential new franchise better.
Power Rangers’ Box Office Challenges
Why Power Rangers (2017) never got a sequel comes down to box office results. The 2017 Power Rangers movie made $142.3 million at the box office on an estimated budget of $100 million, meaning that it was far from breaking even. Anything less than $250 million would place Power Rangers as a box office failure, and only something above that could have gotten a sequel greenlit right away. As much as there was room for the Power Rangers movie to grow into a bigger franchise with future installments, such a disappointing box office killed any chances of a sequel, much less multiple.
Will There Be Another Power Rangers Movie?
Power Rangers (2017) will not get a sequel. Therefore, if Power Rangers returns to theaters, it won’t feature the 2017 cast. Currently, a Power Rangers reboot series for TV is in development – a Power Rangers show that presumably won’t reuse Sentai footage and will aim at more mature audiences. The Power Rangers reboot show currently does not have a release date, and the franchise’s next big releases are Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always and Power Rangers Cosmic Fury. A new Power Rangers movie was announced to be in development in 2020, but the reboot series by Jonathan Entwistle and Jenny Klein now seems to be the franchise’s priority.
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