The POWER RANGERS Movie Will Reportedly Focus On Brand New Characters
The general consensus was that Lionsgate's Power Rangers movie would feature rebooted versions of the original Mighty Morphin' characters. However, a new report suggests that's not the case
Last week, four of five leads were cast in Lionsgate's upcoming big screen adaptation of Power Rangers. Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, Ludi Lin and RJ Cyler will play the Red, Pink, Black and Blue Rangers respectively, and while we still don't know who'll play the Yellow Ranger, those castings already started to raise a few questions - as their characters' names were never confirmed.
Early rumors claimed the studio would be drawing from Mighty Morphin' series - re-casting the original five characters. However, a new report from Collider has ammended this, confirming that the incoming young stars will be playing five brand new characters. Fans will recognize the zords and colors from the original series remain consistent. It's currently unclear if these new characters will resemble their predecessors in personality. They are as follows:
'Callum Oliver' – The Red Ranger/Tyrannosaurus | 'Priya Patel' – The Pink Ranger/Pterodactyl | 'Brian Olson' – The Blue Ranger/Triceratops | 'Oscar Fernandez' – The Black Ranger/Mastodon | 'Teyana Jones' – The Yellow Ranger/Sabre-tooth Tiger
The site claim these changes likely came with some recent script updates. Originally written by Ashley Miller & Zack Stentz (X-Men: First Class), it's believed series co-creator Haim Saban has since made a few "tweaks" with director Dean Israelite. In fact, he's so proud of his work, he's even attached his name to the movie's official title, which is now (*groan*) Saban's Power Rangers.
The movie's budget is apparently on the low side - around the $35 million mark. Given they've cast relative unknowns so far (excluding Cyler), this shouldn't come as much of a surprise, although it'll be interesting to see how ambitious they'll be with the CGI-heavy action sequences.
Power Rangers hits theatres January 13, 2017.