The new live-action Power Rangers movie will reportedly connect to the same continuity as the TV show franchise that has been around for nearly three decades. The first Power Rangers TV series, The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, debuted in 1993, telling the story of five teenagers who become the defenders of Earth against alien threats. In the 90s and beyond, the Power Rangers became a mega-franchise spanning TV shows, toys and other tie-in merchandise, theatrical films and other media. In 2017, Dean Israelite's Power Rangers was meant to launch a live-action film series for a new generation, but received mixed reviews and failed to turn a profit.
As a result, Paramount is looking to reboot the Power Rangers in a new upcoming movie, directed by Jonathan Entwistle (End of the F---king World, I’m Not Okay With This). Though little is known about the reboot, it was reported the new Power Rangers will be set in the 90s and include time-travel in some form. More recent details pointed to a whole new Power Rangers team suiting up in the reboot, with the group led by a female character, rather than the typical roster that saw a male character leading the charge. Now, further details reveal the Power Rangers reboot will tie into the TV shows in a major way.
As reported by The Illuminerdi, the movie will include Power Rangers suits and Zords from across Ranger history, then further confirmed the film will take place in the same continuity. So all the various Powers Rangers heroes and villains from the last 27 years of the TV show will exist in the same universe as the upcoming movie. However, this report should be taken with a grain of salt as it's still early on in the development process of the movie, so story elements may change.
From this report, it sounds as if the new Power Rangers movie will reverse-engineer a shared movie universe by launching a new film franchise that ties into the established universe while expanding it to the big screen. It's unclear how successful this approach will be. There have been quite a few blockbuster films meant to launch a franchise that failed to perform well at the box office or with critics, and ended up stalling the potential new series. In fact, 2017's Power Rangers did exactly that. Despite reports a Power Rangers sequel was in development, Hasbro opted to go in a different direction and will reboot the big-screen franchise. Perhaps tying the new movie into the established continuity of the show will help to endear the film to franchise fans, while also delivering a new chapter in the long-running continuity.
Certainly, based on reports about the upcoming movie, which will introduce a new team of Power Rangers heroes, there's still going to be plenty of original ideas brought to the reboot. If the film can cast a new team of talented performers and develop compelling characters, that will set the stage for their own big-screen franchise. Of course, these characters will need to be as interesting as the movie's ties to the TV continuity, or it may not be the hit Hasbro and Paramount are looking for. For now, it remains to be seen how the Power Rangers movie develops and who will join the cast as the new team of Mighty Morphin heroes.
Source: The Illuminerdi