Sunday, August 13, 2017

Why wasn't Power Rangers (2017) a Box Office Smash?

I have been wanting to write this for a while. I've had the whole summer to write this but as you can see, I've been busy with my comic. I've been debating to even do this article. I mean it is like putting salt on the wound. The majority of diehard Power Ranger fans loved the movie. I did too. But we can't gloss over that the movie was not a Box Office success in the United States nor internationally. It tanked in China (3.3 Million) and Japan. It had a $100 Million budget and made $84 Million in the United States and came in #2 the first week and then went down from there. They made a profit but it wasn't enough to call a sequel. The DVD and digital sales were marginal, making number one two weeks in a row but that was it. Fans were hoping the DVD sales would bring us a sequel. So far it is up in the air and not sure. 

Lots of people have told me it needed more action. I can't say it was just one thing. Listening to Dean Israelite's director commentary, from the beginning he didn't want the typical Superhero movie. The movie opens with a intimate view of a flashback to Zordon and Rita as Rangers. He said in a typical movie, it would be a vast view, an epic scope and more elaborate.  They were going for an intimate movie. I totally got that and loved that. But I knew the movie was only going to be a hit with fans. Dean Israelite kept saying 'superhero.' One thing is that the majority of mainstream audience has not considered Power Rangers as superheroes. It's a hard pill to take as fans I know. My nephew's girlfriend told me she dressed as Pink Ranger for work for superhero day and they told her she wasn't a superhero. Now why? Because I think the mainstream expect superheroes to be from the comic books. And Power Rangers are well known to come from originally at least partially from Japan. 

 A lot of movie hinged on Nostaglic-factor. Those non-current fans that remember it from being a kid. Dean said he wanted to capture the feeling he felt watching it as a kid. I think those fairweather nostalgic fans were expecting an epic superhero movie. Going back to what I said about the opening sequence, I expected more. The reason Dean focused on Rita and Zordon being Rangers, I think fans would had needed more details. We didn't get much details in the original show. And having them as Rangers was great but it wasn't clear if Rita was a witch or just dabbled or where her powers came from. Also her motives, which were alluded to but never said outright why she betrayed her team. I get what the movie was going for with the Rangers transforming in the end but having an epic opener would have smooth out the transition that just made the movie not feel like the 30-minute climactic ending was tacked on.

Now Thor did have a limited scope in the first movie and a smaller budget and the budget and scope grew bigger with each movie. But the first Thor did still have epic scenes and action. (Some people have called Rita a female Loki) Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie and liked the intimate feel and getting to know the characters. I am just trying to figure out why it didn't do well with mainstream audiences. I think it was too advanced for its time. I hope it finds an audience in the future but most likely it will just remain a  cult favorite. I desperately do want a sequel, I think the director, the actors and crew definitely need a sequel. Superhero sci-fi movie sequels that did better than the first were X-Men, Terminator, The Dark Knight, etc. Now what could a sequel do to get more of an audience? Be a huge epic, not be too esoteric like Pacific Rim with its dreams and brain stuff and milk the hell out of Tommy Oliver. 

Power Rangers Ninja Steel - Rocking and Rolling - Episode Review

Summary:
 StoneDozer shakes the ship and they introduce new footsoliders. Back on Earth, there is a new Levi West concert. Inside Levi shows the other Rangers the empty stadium. He will be gone for a 3-month world tour. A girl, the biggest fan comes in. They take a picture with his burger-shape camera. Sarah asks if they knew he was going on a tour. Mac tells them the Earthquake is coming close to them. Brody tells Levi they have to go. Levi's concert is to start so he can't go. 

The fans come running in the stadium. Victor and Monty hide in trash cans that are labeled like Recycling bins and get trash on them. They overhear the manager with speakers. The Rangers dressed in their ninja training gear and they spot the new footsoliders. They are moving dirt. Brody and Sarah go check it out. The other three morph and fight the footsoliders. Inside Stonedozer wants to do a huge earthquake under the concert hall. Brody says Levi has to stop the concert. He cant hear it with the loud noises and that his com is away from him. 


Levi sings a song about missing someone. Stonedozer finds Brody and Sarah and shakes up the place. The five reunite and head to the stadium. Victor and Monty break in and are on the stage when the security stops them. The place shakes. The Rangers come in and two take Levi away. The audience leaves. Levi becomes the Gold Ranger. The Rangers help the people out. Everyone runs out but the fan girl cant find her dad. Debris almost fall on her so Gold saves her and her dad finds her. Meanwhile the stadium is empty inside and Ripcon tells StoneDozer to bring the stadium down. The building is destroyed.

The Rangers fly out and meet the monster in a quarry. Gold fights Stonedozer. Gold does a tornado of grunts that goes on top of the monster. Gold fights some of the grunts as do the Rangers. Gold multiples imself and they do attacks on Stonedozer. Lightning hits the monster. Red becomes two and fights him. He throws Brody on top of Levi. Levi throws his sword on him and slashes him. He his final attack and takes a selfie at the same time. Stonedozer then is made giant. Gold then calls his Bull Rider Zord. 

He enters the cockpit and dons Ninja Master Mode. Stonedozer throws rocks on the zord. Brody calls the Rumble Tusk and they form the Megazord. They don Ninja Master Mode and enter the cockpit. They help fight. Bull Rider Megazord combines. He shoots the rocks away. The two Meghazords do their finishers. The monster is defeated. Back at the school, the mayor and Levi make an announcement. The Rangers feel bad. Levi apologizes to the girl, she says the Rangers were amazing. The mayor introduces Levi. He thanks the Power Rangers. He says he will postpone his world tour. They all applaud. Levi and the Rangers hug and talk about how Summer Cove needs Gold Ranger more than Levi. Levi hasnt even finish High School. Supposedly Victor broke every bone in his body and was going to ghet a tropy until Cody unravels him. He is perfectly fine. 


Review:
Good ep, cool they got to shoot in a stadium.