‘Power/Rangers’ R-Rated Fan-Made Film Pulled off Vimeo, Youtube, Other video-Sharing Sites for Alleged Copyright Infringement

Power/Rangers, the R-rated short fan-made film starring Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) and James Van Der Beek that went viral last week has been pulled down from Vimeo, YouTube and other video-sharing sites following a request from Saban Brands, the owner of the rights to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers franchise. However, by the time the time this was done, the 14-minute video had already received over 12 million views. Some sites though, like Movieweb, continue to run the contested film.

Produced by Adi Shankar as part of his Bootleg Universe one-shot films, Power/Rangers was directed by Joseph Kahn, best known as the music video director behind clips like Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" as well as videos for Britney Spears, U2 and others in the music industry. The film itself is a dark and gritty reimagining of the Mighy Morphin Power Rangers that explores a timeline where the Rangers lost. Shankar in an interview with Huffington Post argued that his film was wholly original and used no footage or music from the original "Power Rangers" series. Furthermore, he adds: "I'm literally not trying to pitch this to anyone. I'm not trying to use this to get ahead or leverage off their intellectual property. I'm just a fan, you know what I mean? I did this for the 7-year-old kid inside of me."

In any event, there is already an official live-action Power Rangers movie remake that is being produced by by Saban in partnership with Lionsgate. In fact, it has already been announced for release to theaters by July 22, 2016. According to the studio's official statement, the upcoming film will be "a modern reinvention of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, a group of ordinary high school kids who find themselves infused with extraterrestrial powers and must harness those powers as a team to save the world." Penning the script for the Power Rangers movie reboot are Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller, the same writing duo who wrote the screenplay for the blockbuster Thor and X-Men: First Class movies. Haim Saban of Saban Entertainment is producing along with Brian Casentini and Allison Shearmur. At this point though, the Power Rangers movie's cast and director have yet to be named.