Actress Elizabeth Banks has signed on to play the role of the villain in Power Rangers, Lionsgate’s big-screen take of the popular 90s kids television show, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Dean Israelite, director of Project Almanac, is on board to direct the project, with producers Haim Saban, Brian Casentini, Wyck Godfrey and Allison Shearmur alongside Brent O’Connor and Jon Feltheimer as executive producers.
A quintet of newcomers, namely RJ Cyler, Becky G, Ludi Lin, Naomi Scott and Dacre Montgomery are playing the roles of the five teens who, infused with powers, form a team which must stop the world from being conquered.
Banks will play the classic Power Ranger antagonist, Rita Repulsa, the alien witch whom the rangers must defeat.
Last year, Banks directed, produced and acted in Pitch Perfect 2 and also reprised her role of Effie Trinket for Mockingjay Part 2, the final instalment of the Hunger Games franchise of Lionsgate.