March 2017 (24 March, to be precise) will see a new bunch of acrobatically gifted youngsters popping on their multicoloured helmets and taking on a breed of rebooted beasties. Yes, 20 years after Mighty Morphin Power Rangers had a generation glued to their telly boxes, the group are now ready to ‘Go! Go!’ on the big screen.
The man in charge of getting them there is Dean Israelite: a director with only one feature-length credit – 2015’s Project Almanac – to his name. (Coincidentally, Israelite’s cousin, fellow South African director Jonathan Liebesman also rebooted another crop of TV heroes, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.)
“I grew up on it and I have all the same questions other people have,” Israelite tells Empire in our new issue. “How are we going to update this? How will it exist in the contemporary superhero cinema canon?” The director goes on to explain how he’s “tried to add naturalism and a grounded nature,” with an emphasis on everything being very much “character-driven”. With great superpowers also comes great, err, supersuits. The director isn’t cutting any corners with his new design: “We’ve made the suits practically with Weta Workshop, with new cutting-edge tech.”
After Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it’s easy to be guarded about another well-loved '90s show attempting box-office gold. But the addition of Elizabeth Banks and Bryan Cranston gives the impression that, although having a ‘grounded nature’, Rangers 2017 won’t be taking itself too seriously. “Like everybody, [Cranston] was sceptical,” Israelite continues, “but he saw a bunch of footage and got excited for the potential. I think it’ll be a thrill for fans to see what we’re doing with Zordon."
For more on Power Rangers, and much, much more besides, be sure to pick up a copy of our brand new issue, available in all good and evil newsagents this Thursday 25 August. Or you can subscribe to Empire right here{