Kevthewriter wonders why the new Power Rangers fizzed out.
Considering it was based on a big franchise, you’d think the 2017 version of Power Rangers would be a hit. In fact, Lionsgate was so confident in this movie they announced that it would get 5 sequels before it even came out. But, when it did come out, it underperformed at the box office and Lionsgate says they are not sure the sequels are going to happen. But why did this would-be franchise stumble right out of the gate?
4. Does anyone care about Power Rangers anymore?
Power Rangers used to be really, really popular…in the 90’s. Nowadays, while the franchise is still going on, even having TV shows continuing to this day, the franchise isn’t as popular as it used to be so fewer people probably cared.
3. Power Rangers movies have never been big at the box office
Before this movie, there were two Power Rangers movies that went to theaters. The first came out during the Power Rangers phenomenon in 1995 and yet it still made only $38 million domestically and $28 million worldwide. Considering it was made on a budget of $15 million dollars, it definitely was a success but the numbers weren’t anything special, even by the standards of the 90’s. Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie was a bomb, though, making $9 million domestic and worldwide despite opening on over 2,000 theaters. This, being made on a budget of $100 million dollars, was the most pricey Power Rangers movie ever and, when you consider what the other Power Rangers movies made, it seems like it was a bad idea making a big budget Power Rangers film in the first place.
2. Competition
At the time it came out in theaters, the Beauty and the Beast remake was still making truckloads of money at the box office and it ended up having competition from, of all movies, Boss Baby. Not only that but The Fate of the Furious came out a few weeks later, further burying the movie.
1. That. Damn. Teaser Trailer
You know why I think this movie didn’t do as well as expected? This trailer:
It made the movie look like it was taking itself too seriously and many people probably thought that, of all things to give a gritty reboot to, Power Rangers wasn’t one of them. The fact that the reviews were mixed at best probably didn’t convince anyone to go see this movie (even though the few I know who did see it liked it).
Unfortunately, Power Rangers doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a movie franchise anytime soon. Oh well. Who wants to get some Krispy Kreme now?
In some ways, it makes sense why they may have thought they had a potential hit on their hands. At the time the tMNT reboot hit theaters, Ninja Turtles had been out of relevance since 1993 or there about. Yet that became a hit. It was the Power rangers that took the Ninja Turtles place in pop culture relevance. While i had a mild interest in the Turtles (I was in elementary school when they first became popular), I was a little too old to have any real interest in the Power Rangers (I was in high school when they… Read more »
I think that as kev notes, the producers’ sights were set too high. The 1995 Power Rangers film was a financial success, even though it ranked only 45th at the box office that year, because it was made on a modest budget. If they’d given this one a more reasonable budget, somewhere in the $40 million range, they could have ended up making money even if it wasn’t a big hit. The other thing that could be a factor—and I say this not having seen the movie—is that the makers may have forgotten their target audience. Power Rangers is a… Read more »
True, that could be a factor but I guess they saw that Transformers and TMNT had PG-13’s and yet were still successes so they thought that maybe they could replicate that (which they couldn’t)
That being said, the teaser trailer, like I said before, really did make it seem like they forgot their target audience, which might’ve turned people away from the movie
I think you have hit the nail on the head with both points. Unfortunately, studios are not interested in midrange hits anymore. They want to swing for the fences every single time. For the last few years, they have been able to count on overseas grosses to bail them out when these big budget tentpoles don’t connect with domestic audiences. But China, which represents the biggest and most desirable international market, is developing its movie industry. The appetite for American movies is slowly dwindling which is bad news for studios who were counting on them as a safety net for… Read more »
Why it bombed: Slow pacing- Kids are bored with this film Lack of abilities- The suits look nice, but they dont really DO ANYTHING. And they have no weapons or special attacks. All they did was punch and kick a couple of computerized putties. For an alien super suit, it acts pretty down to earth. Mastodon got 8 legs- I heard The directors excuse and I call bullshit. Why not give the sabre tooth tiger fish gills while were at it? Goldar-one of the most popular generals in the franchise was not only turned into one boring blob of gold… Read more »
Power Rangers 2 might not be happening http://officialfan.proboards.com/thread/565630/power-rangers-2-happening It looks like Power Rangers 2 may be dead in the water. Neither Lionsgate nor Saban have indicated that sequel plans are moving forward but fans, and director Dean Israelite, hoped that a sequel may still happen, despite the fact that Power Rangers didn’t live up to expectations. However, it looks like a possible, final nail in the coffin has emerged, as Saban has decided not to renew the trademark for the Power Rangers movie logo. Saban owns the Power Rangers brand and they produced this year’s live-action movie with Lionsgate. So… Read more »
https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/2017-2/power-rangers/ Power Rangers creator Haim Saban, who entered billionaire status because of the massive success of the 90’s broadcast series and merchandise, purchased back the rights to the Power Rangers in 2010. He brokered a $65 million deal with Disney, which was doing nothing with the property. In 2014, Lionsgate pitched Saban their take on an expensive Power Rangers reboot, that would spawn a franchise. Lionsgate quickly dated the movie for a prime July 22, 2016 release date. Power Rangers was yet another property apart of Lionsgate’s aggressive franchise expansion model that was in development in 2014. This period of… Read more »
Dacre Montgomery says ‘Power Rangers’ will return to cinemas, but not with 2017 cast (exclusive) Dacre Montgomery firmly believes there will be a new Power Rangers movie in the near future, but says there’s “nothing in the pipeline” for him and the rest of the 2017 cast.The 25-year-old star played the Red Ranger in director Dean Israelite’s movie, which also starred future Aladdin star Naomi Scott.In an interview with Yahoo Movies UK to promote romcom The Broken Hearts Gallery, Montgomery provided some details on the future of the big screen franchise.He said: “I think there was some news that another company had bought it off… Read more »
How come the recent Power Rangers movie flopped? There are several reasons the movie failed in spectacular fashion: • They tried too hard to make things more gritty- This was also one of the reasons Fant4stic blew up in Fox’s faces. Rather than making an organic movie, Saban and Lionsgate decided to throw s*** at a wall, and see what stuck. At times, you wonder if this was a Power Rangers movie, or some bizarre twist in the newest Saw film. I get that they wanted to make a modern interpretation of the franchise, but they did too much. Tried too hard. Which ties into the… Read more »
The End Of The F***ing World co-creator to lead new Power Rangers TV and movie adaptations
Jonathan Entwistle, who also co-created I Am Not Okay with This, “has been entrusted to engineer and shepherd the next series of screen adaptations of Power Rangers, the colorful Hasbro superhero property,” reports The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit. “But as opposed to the recent efforts, which focused primarily on the big-screen, the new initiative will see Entwistle overseeing, and directing, both film and television adaptations.”