David Wise photograph/flickr.
It’s Morphin Time in Kamloops. The new Power Rangers movie begins its 10-day shoot in Kamloops as the fictional town of Angel Grove on Tranquille Farm today and then moves downtown on Tuesday with 200 locals of all ages playing Angel Grove townsfolk and a drone camera flying above.
@olv @yvrshoots #kamloops becomes Angel Grove for the #PowerRangersMovie starting today!! pic.twitter.com/VeixbAjGKK
— Kristy Thompson (@boopsy01) April 13, 2016
@olv @yvrshoots and Action!! pic.twitter.com/F2F3lRYkbm
— Kristy Thompson (@boopsy01) April 14, 2016
Billy (RJ Cyler), Kimberly (Naomi Scott), Trini (Becky G.) and Jason (Dacre Montgomery) are outsiders at Angel Grove High School when the Power Rangers movie begins and not even friendly with one another. Over time they will come together with Zack (Ludi Lin) to form five alien-fighting Power Rangers in costumes designed by Weta Workshop. The only name actor in the cast is Elizabeth Banks who plays villainess Rita Repulsa.
Power Rangers will film in downtown Kamloops from Tuesday, April 12th through Friday, April 15th but not on Saturday. There will be more filming downtown on Sunday, April 17th and then on Thursday, April 21st, and Friday, April 22nd.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers have been around since the early 1990s.The pop culture phenomenon launched in 1993 as a TV series about a group of teens who can morph into super-powered primary-coloured warriors and is still in production two decades later, with an ever-changing cast. More than 200 actors have been on the series, including Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston as a voice actor, Amy Jo Johnson, Brandon McLaren, Eka Darville, Adelaide Kane and iZombie’s Rose McIver as a Yellow Ranger (production of the TV series moved to New Zealand in 2003).
Production on the movie began in metro Vancouver at the end of February and early March with three overnight shoots around Gladstone Secondary School of police cruisers chasing a pickup truck in the nearby streets until the pickup truck overturns with cast on set for one night only. The filming lights could be seen from downtown Vancouver lighting up the night sky.
Power Rangers was next spotted in the Pitt River Quarries, where a construction worker snapped a few selfies with RJ Cyler and Dacre Montgomery.. You can almost see their costumes under their raincoats.
The 2017 #PowerRangersMovie filming at the Pitt River Quarry today: @yvrshootshttps://t.co/BiMaM95Xl9 pic.twitter.com/f5DlEOYWnt
— RangerCrew (@RangerCrew) March 8, 2016
Other metro Vancouver locales to play Angel Grove include: Vancouver Technical Senior Secondary School as Angel Grove High School for classroom scenes; five businesses in Crescent Beach as part of the town of Angel Grove; and Burnaby’s Swangard stadium as the Angel Grove stadium.
Dean Israelite is directing the film based on a script by Ashley Miller and Zack Stenz and franchise creator Haim Saban is producing.
Filming started in Vancouver on February 29th and is expected to wrap May 25th (date subject to change) under the production code SHIRT via the Directors Guild of Canada-BC Production List.