The upcoming reboot of the long-running show “Power Rangers” will officially hit theaters on July 22nd, 2016. This will mark the third theatrically-released film in the franchise following “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie” in 1995, and “Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie” in 1997.
The “Power Rangers” franchise began its life in the English-speaking world in 1993 as an American-made adaptation of the Japanese television show “Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger”, which was the 16th iteration of the popular “Super Sentai” franchise.
The show was an immediate success among it’s demographic of young children, and would provide a foundation for numerous well-known martial artists getting their start in Hollywood, most notably Jason David Frank, Johnny Yong Bosch, and acclaimed filmmaker Isaac Florentine.
The popularity of the “Power Rangers” franchise would see the series become one of the major avenues through which kids in the early 90’s discovered martial arts. Among the names rumored to be attached to the upcoming reboot are Liam Hemsworth and Taylor Lautner as the Red Ranger, along with Liam Neeson as the Rangers’ extra-terrestrial mentor Zordon.
Long-time fans of the show are also sure to be thrilled by the rumors of Jason David Frank reprising his role of Tommy Oliver in a mentoring capacity, and that last bit of news would lend credence to screenwriter Roberto Orci’s recent revelation that the new film will not completely ignore the history of the “Power Rangers” series.
Orci typically writes with his partner in crime, Alex Kurtzman, and together they’ve written huge blockbusters such as Mission: Impossible 3, Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Transformers, and Now You See Me amongst many others.
Unfortunately, the status of Bulk and Skull in the reboot currently remains a mystery.
If you need reminding, here’s a trailer for the original, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers The Movie
