After searching among several directorial candidates to work on the upcoming movie on uniformed superheroes, Lionsgate has finally settled on Dean Israelite to direct the latest reboot of "Power Rangers.'
Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz are writing the script whereas franchise creator Haim Saban has been set to produce alongside Saban Brands' head of development and production, Brian Casentini. They will also be joined by Allison Shearmur, who managed "The Hunger Games' when she worked as Lionsgate's president of production; Shearmur also produced Disney's recent live-action adaptation of "Cinderella.'
The film will follow the story of the origins of several high school kids known as the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers', who discover that they have obtained extraterrestrial powers and go on a mission to save the world together. As they venture out in their duties, they get help from giant mechanical vehicles referred to as Zords.
The original Fox Kids TV series from 1993 gained considerable popularity and brought on a big-screen adaptation titled "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie' in 1995. The series' original iteration continued until 1996; subsequently, the franchise was renamed "Power Rangers' with which various subtitles were used every season.
Several seasons later, the original characters were replaced with new teens and vehicles every year. A second film titled "Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie' was released in theaters in 1997 and was recognized as the film that linked the "Power Rangers' series "Zeo' and "Turbo.'
Initially adapted from highly popular "Super Sentai' series, the show also made use of clips from this Japanese version to save up on production costs.
The upcoming "Power Rangers' film is expected to rival Guy Ritchie's movie version of the "King Arthur' story, which has also been set to hit theaters on July 22, 2016.
Israelite may not have seemed to be the traditional director to be selected for the job, especially with the popularity of the franchise and his lack of experience in directing feature films, such as his sci-fi thriller "Project Almanac' that followed the story of a group of teens who comes up with their own time machine.
Nonetheless, Lionsgate executives were reportedly impressed with his presentation, causing them to offer Israelite the job of helming the upcoming "Power Rangers' film.
