Launching a successful movie franchise has become a more and more difficult task for studios in today’s day and age, with even the most successful of properties not always leading to sure-fire hits at the box office.
Sony’s Spider-Man franchise is a perfect example of this with Sony now planning on slowing down on its Spider-Man universe after a series of flops at the box office in the form of Morbius, Madame Web, Venom: The Last Dance, and Kraven the Hunter. However, Sony’s failed Spider-Man Universe isn’t the only franchise that has struggled in recent years.
Back in 2017, Lionsgate attempted to bring one of the most successful franchises back to the big screen with Power Rangers. The film had all the makings of a hit including a strong cast led by Stranger Things breakout Dacre Montgomery and an ensemble that included the likes of Elizabeth Banks, Bryan Cranston, and Bill Hader, with the hope being it could launch a new cinematic franchise for the Power Rangers.
Sadly, the film severely underperformed at the box office making just $142.3 million at the global box office and reportedly losing Lionsgate a rumored $74 million. Needless to say, the film’s performance prevented Lionsgate from greenlighting the sequel which had been set up at the end of the first film and has kept the Power Rangers off the big screen ever since. Well, it seems the Power Rangers might soon be staging a comeback.
A new Power Rangers movie is rumored to be in development
After 2017’s failed Power Rangers movie, the franchise has been on ice but it seems the iconic franchise could soon be staging a comeback on the big screen!
According to insider Daniel RPK, a new Power Rangers movie is currently in development and the plan is to start with a new slate with no attachments to the 2017 film. Instead, the plan is to pull a full restart in hopes of launching a successful franchise and the plan is to do so by betting big on the project! It is rumored that the project will have a budget around over $100 million and talks are already underway with Paramount about the rights to the reboot – which honestly makes perfect sense given how Paramount has been able to do with properties such as its Sonic franchise.
Many scoffed at Paramount Pictures’ plans for building a franchise around Sonic the Hedgehog, but the studio has turned that gamble into a multi-million dollar success story. The first three films in the franchise have amassed nearly $1 billion at the global box office – a figure that the franchise is expected to pass by the time the dust has settled on the latest film’s release.
Given what Paramount has been able to achieve with the Sonic franchise, we have to believe they could be the perfect partners to bring the Power Rangers franchise back to the big screen successfully by honoring what fans love about the franchise while helping a new generation fall in love with the characters. After all, they have the perfect road map outlined with how they’ve approached the Sonic franchise by bringing in key characters organically as the franchise has expanded and keeping things fresh while remaining true to the heart of the source material.
The Power Rangers are such an iconic franchise and we can’t imagine studios wouldn’t be interested in getting their chance to tap into the fandom. If done correctly, a Power Rangers movie franchise could be a huge success the key being to target the younger demographic while still appealing to older fans in the franchise similar to what we’ve seen with Sonic.
We can only hope that Paramount Studios will see the value in the Power Rangers franchise and secure the rights to bring the iconic group of teen heroes back to the big screen via a new movie franchise – one that actually goes on beyond one movie!