Mighty Morphin Power Rangers has become a massive part of the childhoods of anyone who grew up in the 90s. It has spawned over twenty seasons and a handful of video games, movies, tabletop games, and comic book series. It only makes sense that there was a big-budget movie remake of the original hit TV series back in 2017. The film, which was simply titled Power Rangers, bombed financially (costing the studio to lose over $70 million) and did so-so critically. However, despite its lukewarm initial reception, this Power Rangers movie absolutely deserves a sequel. 

The first and most obvious reason the film needs a follow-up is that it’s actually quite good. It’s unclear what movie critics saw, because Power Rangers offers an emotional character-driven story with exciting action, heartfelt moments, and more mature tones for those who grew up loving the franchise. It’s a rather entertaining movie that manages to find a way to stand out from the countless other modern superhero blockbusters. Why not produce a sequel to it?

There are some clear issues that both critics and audiences seem to agree on. The Power Rangers don’t morph until the final act of the film. The Putties were under-used. There weren’t very many action sequences. Goldar was reduced to a faceless, voiceless monster made of awkward CGI rather than being portrayed as an actual character like he is in the original series. 

Those issues may have been present, but a sequel could easily rectify them. Now that the Rangers know how to morph at a moment’s notice, they can do so a lot more during the next movie. The characters and the rules of this world have been established, so now they can focus more of the runtime on the superhero action. Even those who weren’t fans of the 2017 film seem to agree that, despite its flaws, it had a lot of potential. Now’s the time to take advantage of that potential and create an incredible sequel. 

What’s rather disappointing, though, is that it seems like a sequel won’t actually be happening. The box office numbers didn’t give the studio, Lionsgate, much of a reason to want to pursue another film. Also, since the release of the movie, the Power Rangers property was sold from Saban to Hasbro. The franchise is completely under new management, and they’ll likely want to go in a different direction with it and even work with different studios for any future film. There have even been recent runors that Hasbro has been seeking to reboot the series again with a new movie separate from the one that was released in 2017. 

For those of us who enjoyed the movie and have been hoping to see where the story would go next, it looks like we may be stuck waiting until the end of time. It’s truly tragic, especially because of the Tommy Oliver tease in the post credits scene and that the director has stated he wanted to bring Lord Zedd into the sequel. 

Instead of rebooting the movie series yet again, they could build off what worked and continue to make this story great. Power Rangers is also a fantastic movie that has been gaining a cult following over the last handful of years. One would think that would be enough for them to make a sequel: making the fans happy. That is where their profits come from, after all. Plus, think of the toy opportunities now that Hasbro owns the IP and that this movie showcased new versions of the monsters, Zords, and armor. 

Please, Hasbro. Continue on with what was set up in 2017. Power Rangers absolutely deserves a sequel.