Power Rangers movie accused of copying sci-fi hit Chronicle

Copycat?... Max Landis has pointed out similarities between Chronicle and Power Rangers - Credit: Lionsgate
Copycat?… Max Landis has pointed out similarities between Chronicle and Power Rangers – Credit: Lionsgate

The new Power Rangers movie is being accused of plagiarism, due to alleged similarities to the sci-fi movie ‘Chronicle’.

Screenwriter and director Max Landis, who made ‘Chronicle’ (and is also the son of the director John Landis), has taken to Twitter to call out the film.

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Watch the ‘Power Rangers’ trailer below.


Landis says he was hired by Lionsgate to write the reboot, and then fired, but claims that the studio have now copied ‘Chronicle’ in the finished version.

His comments come after the first trailer for the film was released online.

Other sci-fi fans spotted the similarities to Landis’s breakthrough superhero movie, which saw a group of outsider teenagers gaining telekenetic powers.

Chronicle... some striking similarities - Credit: Fox
Chronicle… some striking similarities – Credit: Fox

In the trailer for ‘Power Rangers’, it appears a similar story is being told.

Plenty also took to Twitter to note the comparisons.

The ‘Power Rangers’ movie’s synopsis describe the action thusly:

“Saban’s Power Rangers follows five ordinary high school kids who must become something extraordinary when they learn that their small town of Angel Grove – and the world – is on the verge of being obliterated by an alien threat. Chosen by destiny, our heroes quickly discover that they are the only ones who can save the planet. But to do so they will have to overcome their real-life issues and band together as the Power Rangers before it is too late.”

The movie, directed by Dean Israelite and starring Jason Lee Scott, Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Banks and Bill Hader, is out in March, 2017.