'Power Rangers' 2017 Movie Release Date & Cast: Elizabeth Banks Joins Reboot as Villain Rita Repulsa

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Feb 03, 2016 05:30 AM EST

The popular '90s kid television show "Power Rangers" is getting a movie reboot and Elizabeth Banks is officially part of the cast as the movie's main antagonist Rita Repulsa.

The actress also tweeted the good news on Twitter. She quoted one of Repulsa's famous lines on the social media platform: "After 10,000 years, I'm free! It's time to conquer Earth!! Time to play #RitaRepulsa #PowerRangersMovie."

Not much has been known about the movie but with Banks' casting, the rumors of Rita Repulsa coming on screen are now confirmed, according to Gizmodo. The veteran actress will be joined by onscreen newcomers Naomi Scott as Kimberly Hart, The Pink Ranger, RJ Cyler as Billy Cranston, The Blue Ranger, Becky G. as Trini Kwan, The Yellow Ranger, Darce Montgomery as Jason Lee Scott, The Red Ranger and Ludi Lin as Zack Taylor, The Black Ranger.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie will be directed by Dean Israelite ("Project Almanac) and will be produced by original producer Haim Saban of Saban Brands, Brian Casentini, Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen. The script is written by Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama. It will be executively produced by Allison Shearmur.

It is not known yet if Banks' Repulsa will be the main protagonist as the original '90s series had many more bad guys. Games Radar reports that Repulsa had an evil husband Lord Zedd, an evil brother named Rito Revolto, a father named Master Vile, and Goldar with numerous followers. Ivan Ooze also played some part in giving the teenage Rangers some trouble when Repulsa's family wasn't busy terrorizing the community.

Banks is best known for her role as Effie Trinket in the recently concluded huge blockbuster series "The Hunger Games." She is also known in other films such as "The Lego Movie" and "Pitch Perfect" for which she directed the sequel of. She will be coming back to direct again for "Pitch Perfect 3."


The original series "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" went on air in 1993. It had a cult following especially among children. According to Coming Soon, two feature films were released based on the franchise, "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie" in 1995 and "Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie" in 1997.

The "Power Rangers" movie will be coming to theaters in the US and UK on March 24, 2017. Which evil villains are you expecting to see in the reboot? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

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