Dean Israelite feels Power Rangers’ PG-13 rating hurt it at the box-office

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

There were some big plans in place for the future of the POWER RANGERS franchise, with series creator Haim Saban even mentioning that they already had a six-movie arc mapped out, but based on its rather lackluster performance at the box-office, the likelihood of a POWER RANGERS sequel is slim. With a budget of $100 million, POWER RANGERS only managed to pull in $140 million worldwide, and director Dean Israelite believes that the movie's PG-13 rating actually hurt it at the box-office. While speaking with ScreenRant, Israelite was asked whether POWER RANGERS' rating might have kept parents with younger children away.

Yes, definitely. Definitely. And not only do I think it, but there’s been market studies on it, and the findings have been that if the movie were rated PG- I don’t want to go into the specific numbers- but if the movie had been rated PG, there would have been more traffic. I think parents were unsure if they could bring their kids to the movie, which surprised me, because the movie is a tame PG-13.

We did a lot of preview screenings, and to me, it felt like a seven-year-old might be scared, but in a good way. They liked that they were scared of Rita, but they still came out of the movie enjoying it, they liked what was going on. I think we really tread that line well, so it was disappointing that parents didn’t know that they could take their kids to it. I’m hoping now, with it coming out on DVD and Blu-ray, and On Demand, that parents will feel more comfortable. That maybe they’ll check it out for themselves and then see that it’s suitable.

POWER RANGERS was rating PG-13 due to "sequences of sci-fi violence, action and destruction, language, and for some crude humor." As I haven't seen the film for myself, I can't comment on just how "tame" its PG-13 rating was, but I suppose it's possible that it may have kept younger viewers away. Whether or not those potential audience members would have added up to a significant chunk of change, I don't know.

What do you folks think, would POWER RANGERS have fared better had it embraced a PG rating?

POWER RANGERS will be released on DVD/Blu-ray/4K Ultra HD on June 27th.