Elizabeth Banks has joined Lionsgate’s “Power Rangers” movie as the evil alien witch Rita Repulsa.
The studio has tapped Dean Israelite to direct and has cast five young actors to star — Becky G. as the Yellow Ranger, Ludi Lin as the Black Ranger, Naomi Scott as the Pink Ranger, Dacre Montgomery as the Red Ranger and R.J. Cyler as the Blue Ranger. “Power Rangers” will hits theaters on March 24, 2017.
Producers are Saban Films’ Haim Saban and Brian Casentini, along with Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey. Allison Shearmur is an exec producer. Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama wrote the script.
The story reimagines the origins of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, a group of high school kids given extraterrestrial powers who unite to save the world.
The 1993 Fox Kids TV series became a pop culture phenomenon and inspired a big-screen adaptation, “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie,” in 1995.
Lionsgate and Saban Brands announced plans in 2014 to develop and produce a live-action movie based on Saban’s Power Rangers property as the first film in a franchise.
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Banks directed and appeared in “Pitch Perfect 2” for Universal, and starred in Lionsgate’s “Hunger Games” films. She is repped by UTA, Untitled Entertainment and Ziffren Brittenham.
Lionsgate announced the casting on the official “Power Rangers” Twitter account.
How evil @ElizabethBanks joins the #PowerRangersMovie cast as the villainous, #RitaRepulsa. pic.twitter.com/BJQV1KAwYv
— POWER🎃RANGERS (@PowerRangers) February 2, 2016
Banks tweeted about it as well, writing “After 10,000 years, I’m free! It’s time to conquer Earth!!⚡️ Time to play #RitaRepulsa #PowerRangersMovie.”
After 10,000 years, I'm free! It's time to conquer Earth!!⚡️ Time to play #RitaRepulsa #PowerRangersMovie pic.twitter.com/ouzd2BtkUI
— Elizabeth Banks (@ElizabethBanks) February 2, 2016
