Power Rangers Reboot in Development, Will Be Set in the ’90s

There’s a new Power Rangers film on the way, set to try and set the course straight for the fan-favorite franchise. According to a new report from THR, Paramount is rebooting the franchise with a new feature from Jonathan Entwistle, creator of Netflix’s The End of the F***ing World. Unlike the 2017 reboot of the same name from Lionsgate, the new Power Rangers film has found a home at Paramount and is set to feature a “time travel element” which will take the characters back to the 1990s. Patrick Burleigh (Peter Rabbit 2) is currently writing the script.

This will mark the first film for the franchise after being purchased by Hasbro last year. At the time, the toy giant reportedly purchased the iconic brand for a staggering $522 million. The latest film in the franchise, Dean Israelite’s 2017 reboot, was a critical and commercial flop. Developed by Lionsgate, it was initially set to be the first of a franchise before going on to gross just $147m worldwide, $85.36m of which came domestically.

This iteration of the Power Rangers franchise will be just another notch on the belt of movies produced with Hasbro and Paramount. The two companies have recently relaunched the Transformers franchise with Bumblebee and are currently working on Snake Eyes and Micronauts.

Despite being under Hasbro for just a short time, Brian Golden — chief executive for the toymaker — explained earlier this year he was pleased with the toyline’s performance in the marketplace.

“Sure. Well, the launch of POWER RANGERS is starting in North America,” Goldner said. “The line launch there. We had some products ship in Q1, but limited. It will roll out in the subsequent quarters, both in North America and around the world. I’m very pleased with the ratings of the new show. It’s a ratings leader in its time slot. It’s offering a very strong lead out. And Nickelodeon’s been a very good partner and helping us to market the new series. The team has done a great job in producing this transition from Saban to our own studio has been seamless, and I give the team a lot of credit for producing such a high quality show that’s really beloved by kids and improved in a number of ways from the last production. So we’re, obviously, very excited about POWER RANGERS, not only for this year, 9 months, but for 2020 as we’ll have a full year impact. So very good there.”

Entwistle is currently helping Netflix develop I’m Not Okay With This, another teen-driven show for the streaming giant.