An American adaptation of the successful Japanese Super Sentai series, Power Rangers was conceived by Israeli-American music producer Haim Saban, who combined featured filmed action sequences that he purchased, and then added filler footage of US actors. Most people he approached scoffed at the idea, and it took Saban years to finally get a foot in the door.
The series first aired on the Fox Family Channel in 1993, later moving to Disney as part of its Fox Family buyout. Saban, who had struck a deal with Rupert Murdoch to create Fox Kids Worldwide, walked away from the Disney sale a billionaire. His payout of $1.5 Billion is the biggest cash payout to an individual in Hollywood history. Eight years later, Saban bought the franchise back.
More than 29 seasons, 900 episodes, and three films later, the 'Teenagers with attitude' are still popular. Although the 2017 film didn't do well at the box office, the thirtieth season of the series, Power Rangers Cosmic Fury, is due for release on Netflix in the fall of 2023. That makes it one of the longest-running live-action kid’s series in history. Does that mean the actors are still earning money from its success?
Power Rangers Merchandise Has Made Billions
Since its inception, the franchise has been merchandise driven, and the shows and films have run alongside a highly lucrative toy and accessories line. The popularity of the series ensured a massive demand for related merchandise.
From its first year on air, kids everywhere wanted their own bit of their favorite show.
Outselling almost everything else on offer at the time, the Power Rangers line became one of the biggest-selling licensed toys of the nineties, and as Power Ranger merchandise became scarce, the frenzied search by parents for the items made headlines during the run-up to Christmas in both 1993 and 1994.
Desperate parents even camped out at stores overnight to ensure they’d be first in line for new deliveries or traveled across state lines to get their hands on the items their kids demanded.
Over the years, the merchandise has stayed popular, and fans of the franchise can choose from a wide variety of options including cosplay outfits, swords and other weapons, action figures, face masks, game boards, books, video games, and many more.
The merchandise has gone on to generate more than $6 billion in sales and has made Saban even wealthier, with a $3B net worth. Today, he is ranked by Forbes as the 232nd richest person in the U.S.
The Original Actors Didn’t Share In The Success
Despite Saban’s huge earnings from the franchise, it’s emerged that the original cast didn’t make very much for their roles in the initial series. The original cast members have never been paid any residuals for reruns.
In a non-union show, the actors were unable to negotiate better deals, even after the first season proved to be a runaway success.
In 2014, Austin St. John, the original Red Ranger, revealed that for the first series, actors were paid $600 a week for very long hours of filming, during which they did their own stunts. Along with Thuy Trang who featured as Yellow Ranger Trini and Walter Emanuel Jones, who played Black Ranger Zack, St. John left midway through the second season because of pay disputes.
What made it worse, the actors who were leaving, had to introduce their replacements on screen during their last scene. It became a pattern for the future, with each Ranger being portrayed by more than 20 actors over the years.
The original actors were never in line to earn anything from the merchandise. In February 2019, Saban signed a $22.25 million deal with Hasbro for the toy license. With Hasbro as the new distributor, this may be different going forward.
Royalties And Residuals Have To Be Negotiated
As unfair as it may seem, it's pretty much the norm for actors not to be paid for the merchandise. And while some stars make huge money from re-runs and merchandise, the general rule is that any royalty has to be negotiated, as do residuals. And while an A-lister might have more control over their likeness being used for products, a lesser–known actor won't.
The actors who played the original Rangers were all unknowns at the time, which restricted their bargaining power. That's in stark contrast to stars like Matthew Perry from the blockbuster series Friends, who released his own merchandise ahead of the 2021 reunion of the show.
In the meantime, Haim Saban is riding high. In 2017, the mogul got his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, unveiled two days before the feature film Saban's Power Rangers premiered.
None of the original Power Rangers are worth anything near that.
Of the original Power Rangers, two have sadly passed on. Trang tragically died in a car accident in 2001, and Jason David Frank, who featured in the role of Green Ranger/Tommy, passed away by his own hand in November.
The surviving actors will have to stay satisfied with the fact that, although they never made big money, they will live in the hearts of the nineties kids forever.