Despite being active for over 30 years, the sprawling Power Rangers franchise has only ever spawned three movies, which becomes even more surprising when it’s considered just how many TV shows there are. The huge amount of source material that could easily be used as a jumping-off point for a feature-length project has arguably been drastically underutilized, but there’s actually a very reasonable explanation for why the franchise has focused almost entirely on its impressive collection of Power Rangers TV shows.

Since 1993 kickstarted the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers timeline, the child-friendly action saga has generated a huge amount of media. Although it has primarily been known for its small-screen storytelling, there have also been comic books, video games, and other ways the canon has been fleshed out. That being said, various projects aren’t all set in the same continuity. Although some direct links exist between certain installments, others are standalone creations that arguably still exist in the Power Rangers multiverse. Either way, it’s still one of the longest-running TV franchises. As such, it’s unclear why there’s been a movie shortage.

Power Rangers’ First Movie Came Out At The Height Of The Show’s Popularity

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie arrived in 1995

1995 was a huge year for the franchise. Its popularity had ballooned since its inception to a point it has struggled to replicate since. This was capitalized on almost immediately with the release of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie. The movie had a budget of around $15 million, and Box Office Mojo reports it took just short of $40 million in box office sales. As a general rule of thumb, a movie’s budget is often roughly double what’s declared, as this accounts for marketing costs. So, although the project did turn a profit, it didn’t quite earn a sequel.

While it wasn’t the success Fox had hoped, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie has since become a huge nostalgia trip for those who grew up engaging with the show and the movie in the 1990s. VHS and DVD sales have allowed it to live on beyond its various failings and mixed reception. It’s still not viewed as anything approaching a masterpiece, but it’s a fun ride. Interestingly, although it featured the main cast and established lore from its parent show, the Mighty Morphin movie is a standalone project, with the show’s third season quickly retconning key moments and storylines.

The Second Power Rangers Movie Was A Much Smaller Release

The franchise essentially gave Power Rangers Turbo a feature-length pilot episode

The TV shows continued to progress after Mighty Morphin Power Rangers‘ release. In fact, Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers and Power Rangers Zeo came and went before the franchise’s next movie arrived. In 1997, Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie marked the saga’s second feature-length project. This time around, it was produced in a very different way. Rather than giving Turbo the same glossy Hollywood treatment as its predecessor, it was made on a far smaller budget. In addition, its theatrical release wasn’t prioritized nearly as much – but it did still make over $8 million worldwide.

As a result, Turbo felt far more like a TV movie than a traditional feature-length effort. Having said that, its eventual purpose meant this made a lot of sense. While the Mighty Morphin movie was retroactively scrubbed from its parent show’s canon after being initially intended as a part of the main timeline, Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie served as a backdoor pilot to a new show. Less than a month after its release, Power Rangers Turbo began its 45-episode run. This time, the movie remained in place as a pivotal part of the show’s lore.

Power Rangers (2017) Was A Reboot Of The Original Show But Never Got A Sequel

This Power Rangers movie was an attempt at a branch of cinematic longevity

The Power Rangers TV shows continued to be produced after Turbo. They remained, and still remain, the heart of the franchise. They’re the bedrock on which all the saga’s various spinoffs and sequels are built. Without them, the possibility of new movies (even occasional ones) would be far lower. However, there was a far more significant gap after Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie than there was after Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie before another film materialized. In 2017, the simply-named Power Rangers was the franchise’s most ambitious movie to date.

The Power Rangers movie had a budget of around $100 million, making it almost seven times more expensive to make than the 1995 effort. It was a complete reboot and didn’t directly acknowledge any of the movies or shows that came before it – other than for a few Easter Eggs. That being said, it did draw a lot of influence from the Mighty Morphin era by using the same characters but recasting them with new actors.

Sadly, Power Rangers only took $142 million at the box office, which fell very short of the benchmark required to make a sequel financially worthwhile. It was supposed to be the starting point of a new movie franchise, with the series trying to make its long-running property branch out into the cinematic realm on a more regular and ongoing basis. Unfortunately, the blueprint was never able to be executed thanks to the movie’s failure. The one saving grace was that the TV shows were still active through all of this.

None Of The Power Rangers Movies Was Ever Big Enough For The Franchise To Switch Its Focus

Power Rangers’ future is unclear, but it probably still belongs on TV screens rather than in movie theaters

Despite three very different attempts to make a Power Rangers movie capture everyone’s attention, it still hasn’t yet been achieved. The saga has been incredibly TV-focused since its inception, and that’s clearly where Power Rangers shines. All three movies have quietly admitted this fact. With the first being retconned, the second basically just being a long TV pilot, and the third resulting in its sequel being abandoned, the franchise almost seems to be keenly aware that straying too far from its original format is always a huge risk. So, the saga as a whole has largely stuck to its strengths.

Because Power Rangers has been on the air for so long now, the various shows have explored pretty much every main avenue and permutation possible. More shows could definitely still be greenlit, but at present, there aren’t any more Power Rangers movies or TV shows in the pipeline​​​​​​. So, it’s unclear what is next for the iconic property. There is plenty of speculation about what a new Power Rangers project would look like, including whether it’ll be another hard reboot, but there is no solid confirmation at the moment about the franchise’s next move.

Source: Box Office Mojo