It’s safe to say that last year’s would-be franchise-launching blockbuster reimagining of Power Rangers didn’t live up to Lionsgate’s expectations. Though it wasn’t the cinematic disaster that the trailers and pre-release clips seemed to indicate, it failed to draw an audience and ended up making just $142m worldwide against a budget of $100m – numbers that put the film squarely in ‘bomb’ territory.
Most assumed that this had put the brakes on plans to spin off a series of sequels or a cinematic universe from the movie. But, back in May, Hasbro purchased the rights to the Power Rangers and has now officially confirmed plans to produce more films. Details beyond that, however, are scarce.
For instance, we’re not sure whether these will be yet another relaunch of the franchise with spiffier costumes and shinier robots, or whether they’ll be following on from the 2017 effort. One thing working in the latter’s favor though is that Power Rangers did surprisingly well on home video – topping the charts on the week of release. There’s also the fact that the property is still well regarded amongst both diehard fans and children alike, with the 2017 outing’s toys being more popular than the movie they were based on.
Anyways, news of the plan to produce more films came courtesy of Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner, who spoke about what their intentions are with the brand at the Hasbro Strategic Decisions Conference, where he specifically mentioned “motion pictures in the future” as part of the plan.
Here’s his full statement:
“As I mentioned, we’ve now announced the acquisition of Power Rangers. This is really a great statement about where we believe we are in developing our brand blueprint. The fact that we can acquire Power Rangers brand and plug and play that right into our strategy where we activate it in entertainment, motion pictures in the future and then of course across toys and games and consumer products and do so globally. We felt the brand was very under leveraged and undervalued. We feel we can exploit it to a much greater extent and it was a great opportunity to acquire the brand.”
Again, details beyond that haven’t been revealed just yet, but whatever happens, Power Rangers fans should be smiling today, as it’s sounding as if Hasbro is eager to get this project off the ground. And whether it’s a sequel or a reboot, the titular heroes will surely be back on the silver screen sooner rather than later, which is music to our ears.
