Sure, 2016 just got underway, and we haven't even seen the first big movie of the year released yet. But that won't stop us from looking ahead to 2017. And one of the giant blockbusters heading our way is Power Rangers. It takes the March slot held by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice this year, and fan interest for the reboot is at an all-time high. Today, we get a look at some of the unused concept art that helped Lionsgate and Saban lock down a director. And some of it is pretty amazing.

As you may or may not know, Dean Israelite is taking the helm on the first big screen Power Rangers movie since 1997's Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie. But the search for a director wasn't an easy one. And judging from some of the images seen here, the studio is looking to take this mega-franchise into a darker realm than what we've previously seen.

Lionsgate took a pitch from a director who will go unnamed at this time. That director hired Alex Ruiz and Gregory Semkow to produce concept art for this version of the property. It is not known if Dean Israelite's version will look anything like what we get to see here. The new movie begins shooting in January. Israelite had this to say to IGN about what is being planned.

"I read the script and was really surprised by it and thought there was a really cool, contemporary, mature but still playful, buoyant and fun take on the material, and was updated in a really interesting way. It had this wonderful character that's essential to going on a fantastic adventure. I was instantly drawn to it. I remember it as a kid. I grew up with it in South Africa. When I opened the script I had no idea how it was going to be updated, and I was really impressed by it. So I put a really big presentation together, because I needed to win the job. There were a lot of guys going out for it and saw the potential in it, so I put a really big presentation together and was lucky enough to get the job. We're in sort of a soft pre-production right now, doing a lot of design work and reimagining the world. It's really cool and exciting."

You may remember that way back in May of last year, Zord concept art for the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Pterodactyl leaked online, and it was quickly removed. Many speculate that this art is actually being used in the movie, since it was taken down faster than the speed of light. Some of the following art is also being extracted from various sites showing it off. But, that said, none of these images are expected to be realized in live-action for the final version of the movie.

One of the discarded Power Rangers images shows the MegaZord battling a creature that looks pulled directly out of Pacific Rim. We also get a close-up of the MegaZord with all five Rangers sitting inside the head. We also get to see another look at the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the Rangers'Command Center, two different looks at Zordon, Rita and Alpha, the last of which looks an awful lot like the Alien in The Day the Earth Stood Still. Take a look at this unused concept art. Does it get you pumped for the big screen return of the Power Rangers?