The original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV show debuted back in 1993 and unexpectedly gave rise to a lucrative multimedia franchise that is still going strong, twenty-four years later. Saban is currently joining forces with Lionsgate to bring the Power Rangers back to the big screen, with the cinematic reboot of the original Mighty Morphin property that started it all. As is to be expected though, the Rangers and their world are noticeably different in their 21st century form than they were, back in the early 1990s.
Dean Israelite (Project Almanac) is directing the Power Rangers movie reboot - which, like the Mighty Morphin TV series, takes place in the small town of Angel Grove and revolves around five teenagers whom are recruited by the alien Zordon (Bryan Cranston) to do battle with the evil sorceress Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks), who is hellbent on conquering Earth now that she has been freed, after being imprisoned for thousands of years. Posters have served as a key element of Saban and Linogsate's marketing strategy for Power Rangers so far and that continues now, with the release of yet another one-sheet for the film.
Rita joins the Rangers on the latest Power Rangers poster (see below), which was exclusively debuted online by Empire. The Rangers themselves include Jason (Dacre Montgomery) the Red Ranger, Kimberly (Naomi Scott) the Pink Ranger, Billy (RJ Cyler) the Blue Ranger, Zack (Ludi Lin) the Black Ranger and last, but certainly not least, Trini (Becky Gomez) the Yellow Ranger.
Longtime Power Ranger fans will recognize the "It's Morphin Time" tagline on the movie reboot's newest poster, as being the Rangers' famous catchphrase that originated back on the original Mighty Morphin TV show. This is far from the only reference to the franchise's twenty-four years of history that the film is making for longtime fans too, assuring that there is a spot for fan-service alongside the many changes that the new Power Rangers film makes to the designs of the characters and sci-fi technology of the original Mighty Morphin TV series, in particular.
Power Rangers isn't just changing up the Mighty Morphin mythology on the surface level, either. It now appears to be all but official that Zordon and Rita Repulsa themselves were once Power Rangers, in the reimagined version of the mythos that's been written by John Gatins (Real Steel), among others. We will find out soon enough how well (or not) longtime fans and newcomers alike respond to such changes and this new iteration of the Power Rangers property in general, when it hits theaters next month.
NEXT: Was Zordon the Original Power Ranger?
Source: Empire