"Green Hornet" May Buzz On Big Screen

[Kor37 9]

'Green Hornet' May Buzz on Big Screen

Reuters

LOS ANGELES (March 21) - The Green Hornet, a classic crime-fighting hero from radio, TV and comic books, may fly again on the big screen. Columbia Pictures has acquired film rights to the masked character for a feature film about the daring newspaper publisher who battles the underworld by night with the help of his loyal sidekick, Kato, the studio said on Tuesday.

 

No casting decisions have been made and no director or screenwriters are yet connected with the project, a spokesman for the Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news).-owned studio told Reuters.

 

Columbia is the same distributor behind the blockbuster "Spider-Man" film franchise based on the web-spinning Marvel Comics hero. "Spider-Man 3" is due out in May.

 

"I couldn't be more thrilled to be developing this world renowned property with the people who brought Spider-Man to the screen," Green Hornet producer Neal Moritz said in a statement.

 

Introduced by Russian composer Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumble Bee," "The Green Hornet" debuted as a radio show in January 1936 on WXYZ in Detroit. He had been created by the station's George Trendle and Fran Striker, who also invented the Lone Ranger.

 

The story centered on the adventures of playboy Britt Reid, who inherits his father's crusading newspaper, the Daily Sentinel, which he uses to expose organized crime in the city.

 

Adopting the secret guise of the Green Hornet, Reid takes to the streets to personally battle criminals by night in his supercharged car, the Black Beauty, driven by his faithful companion, Kato, a master of martial-arts.

 

The radio series ran until 1952 on the Mutual and NBC Blue networks before the Green Hornet began appearing in comic books.

 

The story of the masked crime-fighter, armed with special weapons that could subdue his foes with a knock-out gas or an electric shock (the "hornet's sting"), also was made into two movie serials during the 1940s.

 

But the Green Hornet is best remembered by baby boomers for the 1966-1967 ABC television series that starred Van Williams as the title character and Bruce Lee as Kato.

 

"It was my favorite show as a kid," said Moritz, who bought rights to the project from the families of Striker and Trendle. "It's a dream come true for me."

 

He said the film would be updated to contemporary times but follow the original mythology of the character.

 

 

 

The Green Hornet is at best a "B" level hero. I remember the TV series in the 1960s. It was just like the Batman series of the time. I don't see a Green Hornet movie as being a big hit.

[Gummy 0]

'Green Hornet' May Buzz on Big Screen

Reuters

LOS ANGELES (March 21) - The Green Hornet, a classic crime-fighting hero from radio, TV and comic books, may fly again on the big screen. Columbia Pictures has acquired film rights to the masked character for a feature film about the daring newspaper publisher who battles the underworld by night with the help of his loyal sidekick, Kato, the studio said on Tuesday.

 

No casting decisions have been made and no director or screenwriters are yet connected with the project, a spokesman for the Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news).-owned studio told Reuters.

 

Columbia is the same distributor behind the blockbuster "Spider-Man" film franchise based on the web-spinning Marvel Comics hero. "Spider-Man 3" is due out in May.

 

"I couldn't be more thrilled to be developing this world renowned property with the people who brought Spider-Man to the screen," Green Hornet producer Neal Moritz said in a statement.

 

Introduced by Russian composer Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumble Bee," "The Green Hornet" debuted as a radio show in January 1936 on WXYZ in Detroit. He had been created by the station's George Trendle and Fran Striker, who also invented the Lone Ranger.

 

The story centered on the adventures of playboy Britt Reid, who inherits his father's crusading newspaper, the Daily Sentinel, which he uses to expose organized crime in the city.

 

Adopting the secret guise of the Green Hornet, Reid takes to the streets to personally battle criminals by night in his supercharged car, the Black Beauty, driven by his faithful companion, Kato, a master of martial-arts.

 

The radio series ran until 1952 on the Mutual and NBC Blue networks before the Green Hornet began appearing in comic books.

 

The story of the masked crime-fighter, armed with special weapons that could subdue his foes with a knock-out gas or an electric shock (the "hornet's sting"), also was made into two movie serials during the 1940s.

 

But the Green Hornet is best remembered by baby boomers for the 1966-1967 ABC television series that starred Van Williams as the title character and Bruce Lee as Kato.

 

"It was my favorite show as a kid," said Moritz, who bought rights to the project from the families of Striker and Trendle. "It's a dream come true for me."

 

He said the film would be updated to contemporary times but follow the original mythology of the character.

 

 

 

The Green Hornet is at best a "B" level hero. I remember the TV series in the 1960s. It was just like the Batman series of the time. I don't see a Green Hornet movie as being a big hit.

I liked the series. I remember when the GH and Kato were guest stars on Batman once. I wouldn't mind seeing this made into a movie. But, it might best be a Sci-Fi Original Movie, rather than a theatrical release.

[Kor37 9]

I remember when the Green Hornet guest-starred on Batman in a 2-parter. Thats what made me start watching the Green Hornet show.

[MrPsychic 1]

It sounds like they're scraping the bottle of the comic book bucket for movie ideas...

[Kor37 9]

I know! The Green Hornet didn't even have a cool costume. He wore a suit,tie, trenchcoat and a fedora hat. He looked more like a child molester than a hero! Kato looked cool though.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Some people thought a movie based on a Disney theme park ride was scraping the barrel.

 

I don't see how this could be any worse than any of the others.

[Stephen of Borg 2]

this idea has been floating around for years, Kevin Smith was originally going to write the script and direct at one point, but decided that he wouldn't know how to do a Green Hornet movie, even though he is a big super hero fan

[Gummy 0]

this idea has been floating around for years, Kevin Smith was originally going to write the script and direct at one point, but decided that he wouldn't know how to do a Green Hornet movie, even though he is a big super hero fan

I'll watch anything that Kevin Smith directs. I love his work. He would be perfect for the job of making this picture.

[Kor37 9]

Some people thought a movie based on a Disney theme park ride was scraping the barrel.

 

I don't see how this could be any worse than any of the others.

 

 

Yeah but in that case it was based on the best ride in the park!....

[mowzer 0]

the green hornet 60's tv series was theone where Bruc Lee was the sdkick wasn't it? Don't reall remember it, sounds familiar but it's before my time. Seems to me that there are so many other comic book heroes they could do movies about than the Green hornet, I would quite like to see a justice league movie myself.

Edited March 23, 2007 by mowzer

[Kor37 9]

the green hornet 60's tv series was theone where Bruc Lee was the sdkick wasn't it? Don't reall remember it, sounds familiar but it's before my time. Seems to me that there are so many other comic book heroes they could do movies about than the Green hornet, I would quite like to see a justice league movie myself.

 

 

The Green Hornet TV show didn't last more than 2 seasons I believe. As for a Justice League movie, I own a TV pilot of a proposed Justice League TV series. Its pretty horrid. The Justice League consisted of Martian Manhunter, Flash, Fire, Ice, Green Lantern ( The new one, not Hal Jordan) and The Atom. The only known name was the Manhunter who was played by David Ogden Stiers.

[Gummy 0]

the green hornet 60's tv series was theone where Bruc Lee was the sdkick wasn't it? Don't reall remember it, sounds familiar but it's before my time. Seems to me that there are so many other comic book heroes they could do movies about than the Green hornet, I would quite like to see a justice league movie myself.

 

 

The Green Hornet TV show didn't last more than 2 seasons I believe. As for a Justice League movie, I own a TV pilot of a proposed Justice League TV series. Its pretty horrid. The Justice League consisted of Martian Manhunter, Flash, Fire, Ice, Green Lantern ( The new one, not Hal Jordan) and The Atom. The only known name was the Manhunter who was played by David Ogden Stiers.

When was that made?

[Kor37 9]

It was made in the 1990s sometime. I'm not sure because I have a copy of a copy.

[mowzer 0]

I sorta remember something like that does it have the atom inside a tv fixing it and something to do with the weather.

[trekz 7]

Justice League of America was a pilot for a TV series, which was never picked up, in 1997. Besides David Ogden Stiers, it featured actor Miguel Ferrer as Weather Man - who currently appears as Dr. Macy on the TV series Crossing Jordan, and actor David Krumholtz who is currently on the TV series Numb3rs as Charlie.

[Kor37 9]

I'm surprised that they were actually given the green light to make a pilot for the Justice League. Most of the costumes were all wrong and the story was ridiculous. Thanks goodness it never saw the light of day. The cartoon is much better.

 

I also have a Fantastic Four movie that was made around the same time. It was never released either. It was much better than the Justice League one but still pretty bad. The new Fantastic Four movie is much much better.

[Stephen of Borg 2]

I like the new Fantastic Four movie, but I don't like how they changed the story about Doctor Doom. In the comics, Doom was in a lab accident and that never happened in the movie. Instead, they had him go into space as well, never liked that part of the film

[Kor37 9]

They always screw around with canon in the movies. Just like Spider-Man can now shoot webs directly out of his wrists without the web-shooters.

[Stephen of Borg 2]

Here is Kevin Smith talking about his thoughts on Green Hornet. Warning, it does have major strong lanuage

[A l t e r E g o 9]

I'm getting a 'this is going suck worse than "Dick Tracy"' vibe about this. :P

 

I don't see how they can make it hit compared to heroes the likes of Spidey, Superman & Batman.

 

Nothing special about GH 'cept maybe the theme. That and the car is all I remember about the series.