Hasbro has officially confirmed plans for future Power Rangers movies. And while it’s unclear what the nature of those new movies will entail, the news could leave open the possibility for sequels to the Lionsgate-produced reboot that hit theaters last March. The toy manufacturing giant acquired the rights to Power Rangers and other Saban brands earlier in May, opening the door for a whole new wave of products and content based on the iconic heroes.
The acquisition left up in the air what would happen with the Power Rangers as far as entertainment is concerned. It also didn’t help that Lionsgate’s ambitious Power Rangers reboot bombed with just $142 million worldwide against an estimated $100 million production budget. It remains a mystery as to the direction that Hasbro will take with the Power Rangers on the big screen, but franchise fans can rest assured knowing the toy manufacturer plans on pursuing more big screen adaptations of the property in the future.
As revealed via Toku Nation, Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner spoke about their future plans for the Power Rangers brand at the Hasbro Strategic Decisions Conference. He specifically mentioned “motion pictures in the future” as part of the plan. Hasbro had previously acquired the license to Power Rangers toys before adding other Saban properties to its portfolio, so it’s no surprise that they also have big plans for those. Here’s the full statement via Toku Nation:
“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 develping 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.”
Despite flopping at the box office, Lionsgate’s Power Rangers topped home video sales in its first week of release last July. The reboot’s relative success on home video initially inspired hope for a potential sequel, but nothing has come of that as of yet. At one point, as many as five Power Rangers sequels were planned, but the recent Hasbro acquisition casts doubt on those plans.
The main issue is that Hasbro inked a deal with Paramount Pictures last fall to distribute movies based on the company’s products under the production label Allspark Pictures. So, once they set their new Power Rangers movies into motion, they may need to work with Paramount as opposed to Lionsgate. That could certainly complicate things, especially if they’re interested in continuing the story started by Lionsgate last year. But, ultimately, the likelihood is that fans will see another Power Rangers reboot.
Despite falling flat in theaters, the new Power Rangers was closer to mixed with critics and did garner somewhat of a following, as evidenced by its success on home video. The Power Rangers brand still holds a wealth of value in entertainment as well as on toy shelves, so Hasbro’s plans to move forward with new movies isn’t exactly a shock at this point. But, the question is, what will the next Power Rangers movie look like?
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Source: Toku Nation
