Well, this didn't go as we hoped. Yesterday was the opening day in China for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Power Rangers. And both films got their butts kicked by the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($68 million in eight days) and the buzzy Bollywood import Dangal ($32m thus far). King Arthur earned just $1.5m on its opening day, but we knew that was coming and it just means that the multi-film Knights of the Round Table franchise isn't meant to be. But Power Rangers is the real tragedy, earning just $1.2m on its first day and arguably sealing its fate. Barring a post-theatrical miracle, it's one-and-done for the Power Rangers franchise.
If you had told me a few years ago that not only would a live-action Power Rangers turn out to be pretty good but that a pretty decent Power Rangers would nonetheless fail to spawn a viable franchise, I would have been a little shocked. But here we are. While the mixed-reviewed Dean Israelite-directed origin story fantasy opened with a best-case-scenario $40 million opening weekend at the end of March, it sank like a stone and will end its domestic run with just $85m. And while there was the presumption that overseas grosses would gross at least whatever it made in North America, if not the standard 40/60 split, that didn't happen.
The Lionsgate release, which stars Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Ludi Lin and Becky G., has barely made $50 million overseas heading into this weekend. With a horrible China debut, we're likely looking at a best-case-scenario of around $10m. So the Elisabeth Banks/Bryan Cranston sci-fi actioner should expect a final worldwide gross of around $145m worldwide plus whatever it earns in Japan two months from now, on a budget of around $100m. So while the film may make money for Lionsgate (the domestic distributor and not on the hook for the whole $100m cost), it's an overall money loser as it exits domestic theaters and enters the post-theatrical market via Digital HD on June 13 and DVD/Blu on June 27.
With mixed reviews, a lack of interest beyond the hardcore fanbase who showed up on opening weekend and no real reason to presume that a second film would "break out" along the likes of The Bourne Supremacy or X2: X-Men United, I think we've seen the end of this incarnation of the Power Rangers. As someone who grew up hating the show only to begrudgingly respect it after I had kids, this whole thing has been weird. I liked the movie a lot more than I expected to. I appreciated its emphasis on character development and teen-centric melodrama over action and spectacle, while I came to like this particular group of "teens with attitude" and would have gladly seen another adventure in this sandbox.
It reminded me of the time when movies like Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were the exception rather than the rule, and kudos to them for including both an LGBT ranger and an autistic superhero in what is arguably a relatively progressive/inclusive superhero movie. Still, it was an origin story that spent much of its running time getting the team into ship-shape for the sequel, and it was odd watching a dark and somewhat violent PG-13 Power Rangers movie that outright earned the rating. The good news is that A) fans got one good Power Rangers movie out of the deal and B) Lionsgate is doing well enough right now that it's not going to live or die based on the performance of this would-be franchise play.
Over the last year, they've scored with movies comparatively big (Now You See Me 2, Hacksaw Ridge, John Wick: Chapter 2) and small (Boo! A Madea Halloween, The Shack, How to Be A Latin Lover, etc.) and that's not even counting the jaw-dropping performance of La La Land ($151 million domestic and $443m worldwide on a $30m budget). Said Emma Stone/Ryan Gosling musical became their biggest domestic and worldwide release ever outside of the Twilight Saga and The Hunger Games.
Now that doesn't mean they are batting 1.000 (insert obligatory swipe at their awful animated output), as neither of their Peter Berg/Mark Wahlberg true-life thrillers (Deepwater Horizon and Patriot's Day) clicked and Divergent crashed and burned on the third try. But, Lionsgate is operating in 2017 like a movie studio, with some good films, some bad films, some small films that break out and some big films that do good enough along with films big and small that don't connect.
If they can score with The Big Sick, All Eyez On Me and potential breakout The Hitman's Bodyguard, they can sell themselves as a reliable place for mainstream summer counterprogramming before the Oscar season begins again. The best thing I can say about Lionsgate in 2017 is that they didn't really need Power Rangers to go supernova anymore than they "need" Saw: Legacy to revive the franchise in October.
I could be wrong, but I imagine they have to look at this the same way Walt Disney looks at a theoretical Tron 3. Sure, they could and the previous ones have a fanbase, but why take the risk? Universal/Comcast Corp. is in a similar place with The Mummy, coming as it does between Fate of the Furious and Despicable Me 3, so that's pretty comforting for them. The most surprising thing about Lionsgate in 2017 is that I find myself actually a little sad that we probably won't get a Power Rangers 2. Woulda think it?
