On the heels of Disney+ axing its Power Rangers series, Jeff Sneider revealed in his newsletter last week that while that specific project is dead, fans might get something in the same ballpark in the not-so-distant future.
According to Sneider, the Daniels' mystery movie—which has Matt Damon (The Odyssey; Jason Bourne) set to star—may be loosely inspired by the iconic colorful superheroes. He writes, "From what I hear, it’s basically a Power Rangers movie… without the name. It follows a young cast in color-coded costumes who team up to fight kaiju with the help of a superhero-esque character played by Damon, who has a Jarvis-like AI assistant played (not just voiced) by [Sandra] Oh. The wholly original movie has no official connection to Power Rangers, but I’m told it’s a pretty clear influence and that comparisons will definitely be made."
Sneider stresses that the film, which has been described as a "superhero tentpole with global warming as the villain," tells its own original story with unique characters and has no official tie to the now-dormant franchise. Still, the similarities will be hard to ignore once a first look is released. The story will reportedly jump between two timelines—the 1980s and the present day—with the '80s storyline following five young heroes.
In addition to Damon, the cast features Sandra Oh (Invincible; Killing Eve) alongside five rising stars: Sean Kaufman (The Summer I Turned Pretty; FBI: Most Wanted), Silvia Dionicio (Task; Chicago P.D.), Jackson Kelly (Imperfect Women; The Pitt), Kerrice Brooks (My Old Ass; The Stealthiles), and Thalia Dudek (Better Man; F1). Rounding out the supporting cast are John Leguizamo (John Wick; The Odyssey), Charles Melton (May December; Riverdale), Michael Gandolfini (Daredevil: Born Again; The Many Saints of Newark), and PinkPantheress.
While an official title hasn't been announced, the current working title is "Thasnagar." While likely just a placeholder, the suffix "-nagar" translates to "city" or "town" in Sanskrit and Hindi, hinting that it could be the name of the film's sci-fi setting.
The Daniels—the directing duo composed of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert—are best known for helming Everything Everywhere All at Once, which won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.
Damon has teased the wild tone of the film, describing the pitch as "The Breakfast Club meets Inception meets an anime film meets an episode of The John Oliver Show that didn’t get aired." It marks his next major project following Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, which is now the highest-grossing film of Damon's career at $1.368 billion worldwide and has him positioned as a frontrunner for the Best Actor Oscar.
The Untitled Daniels/Universal Event Film is slated for a November 19, 2027 release date, meaning filming should kick off by the end of the year, if not sooner.