If you were to sit down and ask any adult born in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, chances are they would tell you some of their favorite cartoons growing up were Transformers, G.I. Joe, and My Little Pony. As we are all very well aware – those are properties of Hasbro Inc., the global toy giant who continues to top the toy sales charts to this day. They are the very staples of the nostalgia boom that continues to fund blockbuster movies that make hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide – like Bumblebee and the previous Transformers movies.
But now we know that Hasbro is working on doing something a little more … animated.
Thanks to a report from the Irish Times we know that Hasbro, along with Ireland-based Boulder Media (which was purchased by Hasbro in 2016) are attempting to buy out a lot for Hollywood-style animated production that would house up to 650 individuals, an academic style academy on the grounds, and of course – the animation theatrical studio to Hollywood-style productions on a regular basis.
At the time of this report the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has rejected the initial proposal from Hasbro and Boulder Media.
While all of this is in early development stages it is not far-fetched to imagine that Hasbro’s initial plans are to create animated series and animated films of their core brands – Transformers, My Little Pony, and yes Power Rangers – while also working to create new properties. Hasbro has long dreamed to become known as an entertainment company and not just a toy company – in the same vein that Marvel has become known for movies as well as comic books (though the House of Mouse has a lot of thanks in that regard). Many in the entertainment industry have speculated that Hasbro’s purchase of the Power Rangers brand was to own their own “superhero” brand in the case that Disney and Marvel elect to take their toy license elsewhere in the future (Hasbro currently has toy licenses for Marvel superheroes, Star Wars, and Disney Princesses, three top toy earners in the industry … all of which are licensed to them by Disney and are highly coveted by competitors … which two of the three also expire in the next 2 years).
We have already speculated that Power Rangers could go animated in the future. With a new movie in the works (speculated for a 2022 release) with a potential “universe reboot” tied with it (to allow complete freedom for Hasbro to take the brand in whatever direction they choose) it only makes sense to see our beloved heroes from 1993 return in animated form someday in the future. We will keep an eye on this development and share further updates as warranted.