Power Rangers (or Saban's Power Rangers) is a 2017 American superhero film based on Saban Entertainment's Power Rangers franchise, itself based on the Japanese Super Sentai franchise. It is the third installment in the Power Rangers film series, and is a reboot that loosely adapts "Day of the Dumpster", the pilot episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The film was directed by Dean Israelite and written by John Gatins, and stars Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Becky G, Ludi Lin, Bill Hader, Bryan Cranston, and Elizabeth Banks. The film follows a group of teenagers who gain newfound powers, and must use them to protect Earth from an ancient reawakened threat. Franchise creator Haim Saban returned to produce the film under his investment firm.
Power Rangers premiered in Berlin, Germany on March 17, 2017, and was released in the United States a week later by Lionsgate Films. The film received mixed reviews from critics, and underperformed at the box office, with the total gross of $142.5 million worldwide against its budget of $100‒105 million. The film was intended to launch a film series with multiple sequels, but all plans were cancelled due to its commercial failure, leading Saban to sell the franchise rights to Hasbro. Another reboot was in development, but due to Hasbro ending its partnership with Netflix in 2024, plans for a reboot were scrapped. In 2025, Hasbro announced that another reboot was in development as a television series with Walt Disney Studios. Those plans were scrapped in 2026.
Plot
In the Cenozoic era, a team of warriors known as the Power Rangers are tasked with protecting the Zeo Crystal and life on Earth. The Green Ranger, Rita Repulsa, betrays them, planning to use the Crystal's power to dominate the universe. The Red Ranger, Zordon, survives Rita's attack and hides five of the Power Coins. He then orders Alpha 5, his robotic assistant, to perform a meteor strike that kills him, the dinosaurs, and sends Rita to the bottom of the sea, foiling her scheme.
Sixty-five million years later in the town of Angel Grove, high school football star Jason Scott is kicked off the team and placed under house arrest after a prank gone wrong. In detention, he encounters nerd Billy Cranston and former cheerleader Kimberly Hart. Billy is placed in detention after experimenting with explosives while Kimberly is there for cyberbullying. After Jason defends Billy from a bully named Colt Wallace, who usually goes after the latter, Billy offers to deactivate Jason's ankle monitor for help at an old gold mine. Once there, Jason leaves to explore and runs into Kimberly. Billy detonates explosives to break some rock, attracting the attention of Jason, Kimberly, and nearby students Trini Kwan and Zack Taylor. The five discover the Power Coins and each take one. While escaping mine security, their car is hit by a train. The five find themselves at home Monday morning and discover that the coins have granted them superhuman abilities. Elsewhere, Rita's sleeping body is found, but upon waking, she goes on a rampage, accumulating gold to raise her minion Goldar and find the Crystal.
The five teenagers return to the mine, where they discover an ancient spaceship and meet Alpha 5 and Zordon's consciousness. They inform the teenagers about the Rangers' history and Rita, warning that they have less than two weeks until Rita has her full power, finds the Crystal, and uses it to destroy life on Earth.
The five spend the next week training against simulated Putties and trying to morph, to little success. To inspire the Rangers, Alpha reveals the Zords, a fleet of enormous assault vehicles modeled after dinosaurs. Zack takes his Zord out for a joyride and almost kills the group when he crashes it. This angers Jason, and they fight. While trying to separate the two, Billy morphs. However, when he becomes conscious of it, the armor disappears. Angered at their lack of progress, Zordon dismisses the group. Jason returns to the ship to confront him and discovers that once the Rangers morph, it will open the Morphing Grid and allow Zordon to restore himself to a physical body. Feeling betrayed, Jason accuses Zordon of forming the team for the sole purpose of escaping the Grid.
That night, Rita attacks Trini and orders her to bring the Rangers to the docks. There, the Rangers fight her but are quickly defeated. Rita forces Billy to reveal the location of the Crystal, which he figured out is under a Krispy Kreme, kills him, and releases the other Rangers. Taking Billy's body to the ship, the Rangers ask Zordon to resurrect him. Zordon says he cannot do so. The Rangers agree they would give their lives for each other and resolve to defeat Rita. In doing so, they unlock the Morphing Grid. Zordon revives Billy, sacrificing his chance to restore his own physical self. With the team restored and confident, the Rangers morph into their armor.
Rita creates Goldar, raises an army of Putties, and attacks Angel Grove to find the Crystal. The Rangers battle the Putties and head to Angel Grove in their Zords. After the Putties are destroyed, Goldar pushes the Rangers and their Zords into a fiery pit. There, the Zords combine and form the Megazord, a giant humanoid robot. Rita merges with Goldar; the Rangers battle and destroy Goldar. After refusing Jason's offer to surrender, Rita declares that more will come for the Crystal and leaps at the Megazord only to be slapped into space. The Rangers are praised as heroes and return to their normal lives while keeping their new powers.
In a mid-credits scene, the detention teacher announces that a student named Tommy Oliver will be joining them, and a green jacket is shown at an empty seat.
Cast Power Rangers
Dacre Montgomery as Jason Scott, the Red Ranger and leader of the team. Jason was Angel Grove High's star quarterback, until a failed prank led to a run-in with the law, followed by his removal from the AGHS football team. RJ Cyler as Billy Cranston, the Blue Ranger. He is autistic and a target of frequent harassment by fellow student Colt Wallace. Naomi Scott as Kimberly Hart, the Pink Ranger. A cheerleader at Angel Grove High, until being dropped from the squad for cyberbullying (she spread a private image of her friend around school). Becky G as Trini Kwan, the Yellow Ranger. A new girl in town, struggling to make friends, she has difficulty relating to her family. She also questions her own sexual orientation. Ludi Lin as Zack Taylor, the Black Ranger and second-in-command of the team. Zack's mother has been ill for some time, and his greatest fear is returning home one day to find her dead.
Allies Bill Hader as the voice of Alpha 5, the robot assistant to Zordon. Bryan Cranston as Zordon, the Power Rangers' mentor and the former Red Ranger. Zordon lived millions of years ago before his consciousness became a part of the Morphing Grid at the time of his death.
Villains Elizabeth Banks as Rita Repulsa, the former Green Ranger who went rogue and killed her old team before being subdued by Zordon for millions of years. She works to form the monster Goldar while attempting to steal the Zeo Crystal, an artifact that channels the Morphing Grid, a dimension that gives the Power Rangers their powers. Fred Tatasciore as the voice of Goldar, a gigantic winged monster made of gold. Tatasciore also provides the vocal effects of the Putties who are depicted as stone golems that can be made from any Earth element.
Supporting David Denman as Sam Scott, Jason's father. Caroline Cave as Beverly Scott, Jason's mother. Anjali Jay as Maddy Hart, Kimberly's mother. Robert Moloney as Ted Hart, Kimberly's father. Patrick Sabongui as Mr. Kwan, Trini's father. Erica Cerra as June Kwan, Trini's obsessive mother. Kayden Magnuson as Pearl Scott, Jason's sister. Fiona Fu as Mrs. Taylor, Zack's mother. Morgan Taylor Campbell as Harper Sarah Grey as Amanda Clark Emily Maddison as Rebecca Wesley MacInnes as Colt Wallace, the school bully at Angel Grove High who targets Billy. Jaime Callica as Officer Bebe Matt Shively as Damo Garry Chalk as Captain Bowen. Fiona Vroom as Fenix Saleswoman and original alien Cenozoic Yellow Ranger Drew Ray Tanner as Young Lover Sophie Lui as Television Anchor Lisa Berry as Candace Cranston, Billy's mother. Jason David Frank and Amy Jo Johnson, two of the cast members of the original TV series, make cameo appearances as Angel Grove citizens.
Production Development Saban Capital Group and Lionsgate Films announced the film in May 2014, with Roberto Orci originally attached to produce. Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz were hired to write the film's script. When theirs was rejected, another script was proposed by Max Landis, which was also turned down as the studio wanted a grittier tone. Orci eventually left the project to work on Star Trek Beyond (2016). In April 2015, TheWrap reported that Dean Israelite was in negotiations to direct the film. Israelite told IGN in an interview that the film would be "completely playful, and it needs to be really fun and funny. But like Project Almanac, it's going to feel very grounded at the same time, and very contemporary and have a real edge to it, and a real gut to it, it's going to be a fun, joyful [movie] but one that feels completely grounded in a real world, with real characters going through real things". Brian Tyler was brought on to compose the film's music. Israelite has said that the film updates itself from the original series, being more character-driven and incorporating naturalism and a grounded nature.
Casting
Actors began testing for the roles of the five Power Rangers in October 2015. On October 7, 2015, Naomi Scott was cast as Kimberly. Newcomers Dacre Montgomery, Ludi Lin and RJ Cyler were then cast as Jason, Zack, and Billy, respectively. At the month's end, Becky G was chosen to play Trini. When it came to casting the Rangers, director Dean Israelite said, "From the very beginning, diversity was a very important part of the whole process," and that while the characters' races were switched around, he added that, "We made sure that the essence of each of those characters are who they were in the original show, and this really will be an origin story of those characters." On February 2, 2016, it was announced that Elizabeth Banks would portray Rita Repulsa. Four months later, Bryan Cranston, who voiced Twin Man and Snizzard in the original series, announced he was cast as Zordon. Cranston revealed that he would perform motion-capture and CGI. In September 2016, Walter Emanuel Jones, the actor who played Zack in the original series, stated none of the original cast would cameo in the film. Towards the end of the month, comedian Bill Hader was cast as Alpha 5. In March 2017, it was reported that Amy Jo Johnson and Jason David Frank, who played Kimberly and Tommy in the original series, would cameo in the film, despite Jones' earlier comments.
Filming Filming was originally set to begin in January 2016 but was rescheduled and began on February 29 in Vancouver. On May 28, 2016, filming was complete. Additional filming occurred in October 2016. A cast member claims that the film has broken the record for the longest wire jump, but this has not been independently confirmed.
The film was released in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos sound.
Music
The official soundtrack, with music by Brian Tyler, was released digitally on March 24, 2017, and on CD on April 4, distributed by Varèse Sarabande. The soundtrack features the "Power Rangers Theme," sung by renowned vocalist Dimash Qudaibergen, and "Give It All", a song by With You. featuring Santigold and Vince Staples, both of which played during the film's credits.
Release Theatrical Originally scheduled for release on July 22, 2016, Lionsgate delayed it to March 24, 2017.