I was honestly expecting somebody like Michael Bay to take up the project. That's not a joke i was actually expecting that.

Honestly? Bay is too big for Power Rangers. Transformers has had many differnet tonal interpretations, but 99% of Power Rangers is utterly goofy, badly-dubbed kids show for, like, little kids.

I thought The Almanac Project kinda sucked. The movie was not bad, but it could have been much better. I did remember seeing a MMPR White Ranger toy in the movie, so I do find that funny now.

If the movie has a good script then he might pull it off. I remember people had iffy feelings when Edwards was announced to direct Godzilla back in 2011 and the movie end up being better then most people thought it was going to be.

According to Variety, Lionsgate made a "lengthy search that saw several top-tiered directors vying for the job" but choose Israelite. His pitch blew them away:
Source: http://variety.com/2015/film/news/po...te-1201470539/

I still hope the movie is not coming out next year. Have you guys see how pack next summer is? The movie is going to be buried alive from other movies. I want the movie to be a big hit and become a major film franchise similar to Marvel, DC and Transformers. I really want this movie to turn out good but my feelings are 50/50 right now.

That's what Lionsgate wants too. A franchise with sequels and spinoffs. Box office numbers will determine if they will invest in it after the first movie.

Good marketing and good word of mouth will help the movie be a big hit. If the movie sucks and bombs then the series should be fine. They will still make new shows and Saban won't end the series if the movie sucks.

I think if the movie is good then it can help PR become a bigger franchise. Look at Transformers before 2007 and Transformers now. Transformers after the movie became a bigger franchise seeing had comics from IDW, video games from Activision and numerous releases from Shout! Factory. I think the new movie can make Power Rangers more mainstream. It would be nice if people know about Power Rangers outside of MMPR. More people can check out the more recent shows and discover Super Sentai as well.

I don't wanna be overly negative or anything but this sounds like "We tried getting someone people know but couldn't & this dude wanted it so why not? The first guy left so what choice do we have?". I could be totally wrong of course, but I don't feel very confident with their main director jumping ship for Star Trek, having to take this long just to get a director & then have about a year or so to cast, film, edit & whatever else they need to do before the desired release date next Summer which will be filled to the brim with movies the general public actually cares about. Might just be cynical, but I don't have high hopes for the movie ATM.

Just out of interest, since when was Project Almanac called The Almanac Project?

I only ask because it doesnt ever seem to have been called that.

Unless it was a US specific thing...

I highly doubt that this movie will come out next year. They had to begin shooting this by now if they wanted to get it out in time. I expect this to come out 2017 or 2018.