The 2017 Power Rangers was a fun film. It maintained the essence of old school Power Rangers we used to watch on TV but modernized it to fit within today’s landscape. The film garnered mediocre — but frankly, better than expected — reviews from critics (52% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 5.26/10) and fairly positive reviews from audiences (65% on RT), but missed the mark by a mile at the box office. 2017’s Power Rangers grossed merely $US 142 million worldwide, with a $US 100 million budget. Weirdly, it made more money in North America than outside.
But, despite being a huge bomb, it looks like we’re going to give Power Rangers another go. A reboot is in the works at Paramount, with Jonathan Entwistle, in talks to direct. Per THR:
The filmmaker, perhaps best known for creating the Netflix series The End of the F—ing World, is taking on Power Rangers, a new version of the colorful family adventure franchise, this time set up at Paramount. Entwistle is in early negotiations to direct a new feature project that would reboot the title. The story is said to involve a time-travel element that brings the kids to the 1990s and, in Back to the Future fashion, they have to find a way to get back to their present.
The film will be directed from a script by Patrick Burleigh (Peter Rabbit 2). Bringing on Jonathan Entwistle to direct is an interesting choice. The End of the F***ing World is a weird, dark and intriguing crime-adventure. I highly doubt that the new Power Rangers film is going to be anyway near as dark. That said, if Power Rangers does want to make a splash at the box office in the era of Marvel and DC comic book films, a mid-range budgeted, dark and envelope-pushing film is perhaps the ingredients required for this franchise. After all, who can forget the awesome R-rated, bootleg Rangers short film that took the internet by storm a few years ago?
