Jason David Frank has now posted a photo online from his camera appearance during Power Rangers. The franchise reboot hit theaters last month, bring Power Rangers back to the big screen with a respectable performance, despite heavy competition at the box office. As one might expect with a reboot of a popular series that goes back to the ‘90s, Power Rangers draws heavily on nostalgia and is now on verge of making back its $105 million budget, after its first two weeks of worldwide release.
However, the nostalgia train didn’t stop with just the Power Rangers, Zordon, Alpha 5, and Rita Repulsa. Two subtle throwbacks to the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers series happen in the movie with cameos by Amy Jo Johnson, who played the original Pink Ranger, and Jason David Frank, who has played Tommy Oliver/The Green Ranger in over a dozen Power Rangers productions since 1993. Frank shared a moment from his cameo appearance in a new photo.
Shared to Frank’s personal Instagram page on Thursday, Frank’s photo shows the actor snapping a smartphone picture as part of his cameo appearance in the Power Rangers reboot. Johnson can also be seen in the lower-left corner of the photo, which includes the caption, “Taking pictures is what I do!”
Taking pictures is what I do!! #socialmediaking @powerrangersmovie @lionsgate @atothedoublej A post shared by Jason David Frank (@jdfffn) on Apr 6, 2017 at 6:50am PDT
Frank portrayed Oliver and The Green Ranger as recently as 2015’s Power Rangers Super Megaforce: The Legendary Battle. The Tommy character is mentioned in the Power Rangers mid-credits scene, igniting speculation about the involvement of a new Green Ranger in future Power Rangers sequels. There are at least five Power Rangers movie sequels planned, so the franchise certainly has plenty of time to establish a new actor in the role as necessary.
Frank and Johnson’s cameos were surely a treat for longtime Power Rangers fans. Frank, especially, has been the longest-running actor in the franchise with his performances as the Green Ranger over the years, so it was only appropriate to work him into the reboot in some fashion. It’s not much different from Stan Lee’s frequent cameos in Marvel movies, and an amusing nod to the popularity of Frank’s portrayal of the Green Ranger and the nostalgia factor of the original series as a whole.
Nostalgia, however, can only take the Power Rangers reboot so far. While not a box office disaster by any means, in its second weekend the movie couldn’t even beat the critically and commercially disappointing Ghost in the Shell, which could end up losing more than $60 million. Lionsgate will have to hope that potential future storylines involving the Green Ranger will hold fans’ interest and improve upon the Power Rangers reboot’s performance with both critics and moviegoers.
Source: Jason David Frank
