The article outlines his entire life, from his immigration to the United States to his various jobs and the friends he’s made as both a television executive and philanthropist.

“I’m laying in my bed in my hotel room in Japan. At the time there is no Netflix, no cable, no nothing — just three channels playing game shows,” Saban said of the serendipitous 1984 business trip. “All of the sudden there were these five kids in spandex fighting monsters. Don’t ask me why, but I fell in love. It was so campy!”

Saban’s Walk of Fame ceremony will be held on Wednesday, March 22, 2017.

(Courtesy: Tronny87 from Rangerboard)

Entertainment publication Deadline reports that Lionsgate is doing a little reworking of their 2017 schedule.  The final film in the Divergent series has been moved into the summer release slate, meaning that newly open slot in the spring season will go to the upcoming Power Rangers film instead.  Get January 13 out of your heads, the premiere will now be two months later, on March 24, 2017.

Written by Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller, directed by Dean Israelite, and produced by Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, Haim Saban, Brian Casentini and Allison Shearmur, this film is a development of Lionsgate and Saban Brands.

“Five years ago we accomplished what we intended to do and then some,” says Dekel. “That spirit and productivity will continue through the company. It was the right time for me to leave, and the company is in a very strong position.”

Chosen as the new leader of Saban Brands is their first-ever Chief Executive Officer Janet Hsu, the president and Chief Operating Officer of Sanrio, the company behind Hello Kitty.  Her new role begins officially on August 17.

“Janet is a visionary leader with a strong track record for driving global business expansion and leading innovative strategies,” says Adam Chesnoff, president and chief operating officer, Saban Capital Group, to whom Hsu will report. “Janet has been responsible for some of the world’s largest and most successful brands. Her extensive and diverse background across licensing, merchandising and retail has led to many major accomplishments. We look forward to working closely with her at Saban Brands to continue to grow the company and its expanding portfolio of brands.”

From Joel Andryc, current interim President of Saban Brands: “We are pleased to appoint Brian Casentini to a more focused role overseeing the Power Rangers franchise.  Brian has been instrumental in elevating Power Rangers since Saban re-acquired the brand in 2010, and there is no one better suited to take it to the next level.”

Chosen to fill Brian’s position as Senior Vice President of Development and Production at Saban Brands is Rich Magallanes, a high-powered producer at Nickelodeon who was instrumental in the success of such cartoons as SpongeBob SquarePants and The Fairly OddParents, and helped develop the newest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.

“I think it’s going to be a fun, joyful [movie] but one that feels completely grounded in a real world, with real characters going through real things.”

Written by Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller, and produced by Haim Saban, Brian Casentini and Allison Shearmur, this film is a development of Lionsgate and Saban Brands.  It will be released in theaters on January 13, 2017.

From Lionsgate Motion Pictures Group Co-Chairman Rob Friedman:

“We’re very excited and with Dean’s [Israelite] vision; we felt very comfortable looking for opportunistic dating,” he explained.  “We really believe that great movies deliver no matter what date they’re on.”

And from Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer:

“We’re picking a date where we think we can win.”

Directed by Dean Israelite, written by Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller, and produced by Haim Saban, Brian Casentini and Allison Shearmur, this film is a development of Lionsgate and Saban Brands.  It will be released in theaters on January 13, 2017.

Written by Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller, and produced by Haim Saban, Brian Casentini and Allison Shearmur, this film is a development of Lionsgate and Saban Brands.

Dean Israelite, whose directing credits include the time-traveling feature film Project Almanac, is said to be a huge fan of the Power Rangers and apparently turned down opportunities to direct other high-profile franchise films waiting for one that properly suited him.

From Variety:

Israelite seemed like a long shot for the job, given the popularity of the property and his relative inexperience helming feature films, but after a presentation that blew away studio execs, Lionsgate is said to have decided to give Israelite the job fairly quickly.

Written by Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller, and produced by Haim Saban, Brian Casentini and Allison Shearmur, this film is a development of Lionsgate and Saban Brands.  It will be released in theaters on July 22, 2016.

In the interview, he discusses how he became aware of the opportunity, the lengths he went to get the job, and that we may be in for a more intricate approach to the writing than we may have previously thought.

We’re not just a leave it behind reboot. [Haim] Saban cares very much about that.

Also of note, Orci mentions that before a director will be considered, Lionsgate will need to be presented with a script to shop around.  He will be collaborating with screenwriters Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz on the story.

Being brought in to craft the screenplay are Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, whose writing credits include the feature films X-Men: First Class and Thor, as well as select episodes of the TV series Fringe and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

In addition, Roberto Orci, whose writing credits include The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Star Trek Into Darkness and the first two Transformers movies has signed on as an executive producer.  He will be collaborating on the story elements with Miller and Stentz.

This film is a development of Lionsgate and Saban Brands.

Then Landis took to Twitter and started posting his opinions about reboots. Hmmm…

Reboots should focus on the fun ideas at the center of the original property. “Dark and gritty” isn’t for everything. Something that was fun and colorful should remain fun and colorful. Just up the intelligence and the character. That was what the first JJ Trek did so well, or Winter soldier, or even the new Godzilla. As a writer, the last thing I’d want would be to force a tone that doesn’t belong onto a story. Tone is story. That said, if the property wasn’t open to evolve, I’d want no part and get out ASAP.

But then posts the following:

As I’ve said before, as of right now, I am not directly involved in Power Rangers. Whether I have been or will be again, no comment. The good news is, regardless of whatever’s happening in Angel Grove, I have three, possibly four movies coming out next year. So…yeah.

Hmmm indeed. On May 16th, Landis took to Twitter again and posted the following:

The worst part of being a recognizable, accessible screenwriter is that all of your minor failures or successes are broadcasted. Imagine if you were an actor, and every audition you went on and didn’t get, it was announced you “failed” to get the part. Or let’s say you were in a movie, and shot your scenes, and now what happens next you don’t control. that’s like screenwriting. So far I’ve had one movie, with one tone. The ones that are coming are all VERY different from Chronicle, and each other. I have a very specific trajectory and goal for myself, and I’m trying to get there before the movie industry falls apart completely. So you can imagine how bizarre it is to hear these voices yelling opinions about scripts they’ve never read, projects that do or don’t exist. Oh well, haters gonna. for now.

Disney, on the other hand, thought Power Rangers didn’t “fit in [their] long-term programming strategy or with the Disney brand,” said Disney spokesman Jonathan Friedland.

(Courtesy: The Huffington Post)

According to Saban, Disney “did not develop the property and exploit it in the way that it deserves” and that he has a very long list of plans.

(Courtesy: The Toy Book, Variety, Reuters, and The New York Times)

Really though, instead of explaining the scandal with boring words and political mumbo jumbo, The Daily Show depicts the whole scenario so perfectly. Enjoy.