There is a whole lot of excitement from a whole lot of nostalgic millennials about the upcomingPower Rangers movie. Lionsgate is just going to have to hope that they all turn out to see the movie in theaters, or they could be in trouble because this reboot didn’t come cheap. As it turns out, the newPower Rangersmovie wound up costing a lot more than was originally expected.
It was originally rumored in the early stages of thisPower Rangersmovie coming together that it would have a production budget of around $35 million. Things change and a lot of times movies go over budget, but in this case, the movie wound up being triple the original rumored budget. According to the Toei Films Twitter account, Lionsgate’sPower Rangersreboot had a budget of12 billion yen, or $105 million. That makes this movie a lot more risky for a few key reasons.
For one, $105 million is just what the production wound up costing. That is before marketing which, for a movie likePower Rangersis going to be very expensive. A general rule of thumb is to double the production budget and that represents a rough break-even point for the studio. That meansPower Rangerswill have to make more than $200 million to be profitable. That is certainly possible and even likely considering the excitement, but we haven’t had any critic reactions to the movie yet. IfPower Rangersisn’t a very good movie it could be a lot trickier to make the money Lionsgate is hoping it can in order to turn this thing into a franchise. At $35 million it would have been much easier to make some money and possibly up the budget for a second installment. Now Lionsgate has a tremendous amount riding on this first movie.
The jury would be out on how much moneyPower Rangersis going to make anyway, but it will also be facing some insanelystiff competitionthis month.Loganwas just released and is currently tearing it up at the box office. Next weekend will see the release ofKong: Skull Island, which has been getting favorable reviews and should also do pretty well. But the real competition will be coming in the form of Disney’sBeauty and the Beast, which is set for release on March 17 just a week beforePower Rangers.Beauty and the Beastshould have a monster first weekend and it stands to reason it will have a great second weekend as well. Couple that with the release of the R-ratedChipsreboot and the sci-fi flickLifecoming out the same weekend asPower Rangersand it could be very tough for Lionsgate to make the money they need.
We’ll have to see how this all shakes out, but this is certainly interesting and something to think about asPower Rangersapproaches. The cast for the movie includesBryan Cranstonas Zordon andBill HaderasAlpha 5, as well asElizabeth Banksas the villainRita Repulsa. ThePower Rangersthemselves are being played by promising up-and-comers.Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’sRJ Cyleris playing the Blue Ranger withDarce Montgomeryas theRed Ranger,Naomi Scottas the Pink Ranger,Ludi Linas the Black Ranger andBecky Gas the Yellow Ranger.Power Rangersis being directed byDean Israeliteand is set for release on March 24.
