In an August report of Screen Rant, Lionsgate and original creator Haim Saban has announced the July 22, 2016 release date of the movie reboot of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers."
Three months earlier, Lionsgate Chief Executive Officer John Fletheimer and Haim Saban of Saban Brands confirmed that that their respective companies are working together to produce and develop an original live-action feature based on the "Power Rangers" property, noted Screen Rant in an earlier report.
The first Screen Rant report also remarked that production on the movie needs to begin early next year to meet its release date.
Even before official production begins, however, the movie has already hit a major snag as executive producer Roberto Orci quit the project, reports Kpop Starz.
Orci dropped out of the "Power Rangers" movie reboot because of scheduling conflicts with "Star Trek 3," which he will be writing and directing, according to Deadline.
Amid the departure of Orci, Lionsgate and Saban remain unperturbed and are not changing the release date of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," the report noted.
Lionsgate is still bent on pursuing the reboot movie despite the fact that the first two films of the franchise were box disappointments in the 90s.
"Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie" released in 1995 hardly created a stir in the box office by posting $66 million earnings worldwide, details Kpop Starz.
"The follow-up film 'Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie' in 1997 was a much bigger flop grossing only $9.6 million worldwide," Kpop Starz added.
Nonetheless, the film outfit remains undaunted and optimistic. "With an extensive and extremely devoted worldwide fan base as well as a deep and detailed mythology, the 'Power Rangers; are primed for the big screen," said Lionsgate in an official statement.
Lionsgate will reportedly re-visualize the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," which is a group of high school kids gifted with unique and cool super powers who need to work as a team in the hope of saving the world from the hands of out-of-this-world villains.
The film studio has yet to make an official casting announcement for the movie.
Power Rangers Curse
Kpop Starz also mentioned of the so-called "Power Rangers Curse" as several cast members of the shows, both on TV and the big screen, suffered ill fates in real life.
Yahoo! Movies, in a May 7 report, detailed these "curses" including:
- Skylar Deleon, who played Roger in the original series episode, was charged with 2004 murders of Tom and Jackie Hawks. He was convicted and sentenced to death in April 2009
- Eric Frank, who had a guest star appearance as David Truehard in "Power Rangers Zeo" died of a heart illness in April 2011
- Richard Genelle, the actor who played Ernie, the occasional advisor to the Power Rangers died of a heart attack in 2008
- Bob Manahan, the actor who voiced Zordon and the Power Rangers' mentor, died also of heart attack in June 2000.
- Thuy Thang, who played Trini Kwan (the Yellow Ranger) in the first two seasons died in a car crash on September 2011.
Despite these, David Yost, who gained the most success from among the cast as Billy Cranston (the Blue Ranger) expressed excitement of the movie reboot of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," notes Yahoo! Movies.
When asked however about the "Power Rangers Curse," Yost simply said: "I've never heard there's a curse."
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
