Why was "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie" (1995) filmed in Sydney, Australia?

Question

I wonder why the 1995 action film, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, was filmed in Sydney, Australia (standing in for Angel Grove, California). I mean, various Sydney landmarks can be seen throughout the film (especially the Monorail and Harbour Bridge), which might mean that Sydney, Australia, doesn't exist in this fictional universe.

Answer 1

Well, there are several reasons why a studio would choose a location over another, this can be because several factors. To name a few:

1. The actors scheduling
2. The stages scheduling
3. Costs and taxes (you'll find more than once that New York looks an awful lot like Toronto or Vancouver)
4. Convenience
5. Others

To be more specific with Power Rangers: The Movie, according to IMDb Trivia:

Steve Wang worked three months as director on the film during preproduction, but he quit over disagreements with producers. This was when the production had been planned to film in the United States and Canada. Bryan Spicer was then hired as director. The production moved to Australia due the availability of the cast from October to December 1994 (which clashed with winter in the northern hemisphere), and location possibilities such as Sydney substituting for the fictional setting of Angel Grove.

and

Because the film went overbudget and overrunning, the second season of the show overlapped with the film production (they were supposed to finish filming it when they returned home to America), the last few episodes were filmed in Australia.

and

Episodes of the TV show were shot at the same time as the movie, notably in "The Wedding", where the Rangers went on vacation to Australia while Alpha turns evil.

So convenience factors, cost and scheduling and just plain being there at the time all played a roll. But as mentioned, making movies are expensive, and there are many countries that will gladly give tax breaks to film movies there.