The man previously attached to make a new Power Rangers movie has just powered up into something much more.
Jonathan Entwistle, the creator of Netflix’s The End Of The Fucking World, has signed on to shepherd a whole new Power Rangers universe, which will include both movie and television projects. This is under the banner of eOne, Hasbro’s own entertainment studio, which purchased the rights to the franchise in 2018.
“This is an unbelievable opportunity to deliver new Power Rangers to both new and existing generations of awaiting and adoring fans,” Entwistle said in a press release. “We’ll bring the spirit of analogue into the future, harnessing the action and storytelling that made this brand a success. I’m looking forward to working with the teams at eOne and Hasbro. Together, we can’t wait to share more Power Rangers with the world very soon.”
Last year, Entwistle came on board to make a new Power Rangers movie with Paramount, rebooting the movie series that had been in the works with the 2017 relaunch, before Hasbro owned the franchise. This is basically that same movie plan Entwistle was on board with before, but more. eOne is now in charge, not Paramount, and the aim is to make a multimedia franchise that all tells one connected story, in the mould of the Star Wars or Marvel universes.
“Jonathan has an incredible creative vision for this iconic and hugely successful franchise, and is hands down the right architect to join us as we reimagine the television and film worlds of this property,” Nick Meyer and Michael Lombardo, the executives at eOne, said in a joint statement “Across our slate, we are looking forward to working with the most talented storytellers as we take on Hasbro’s rich fan-favourite brands and build entertainment universes around them.”
That makes it sound like Entwistle is just the head of the snake, and he’ll be recruiting lots of additional people to help me bring Power Rangers back to the big, and small, screens — a bold move that seemingly could see Hasbro create its own slice of the Power Rangers franchise without having to rely on designs and footage from its Japanese counterpart on TV, Super Sentai, in a major way. While Power Rangers has done that at the box office before, it’d be a big step for the Rangers’ TV roots.