New Green Hornet Movie Is Happening
The Green Hornet and Kato are coming back to the big screen.
This article is more than 2 years old
Good news for all you fans of classic masked vigilantes out there. The Green Hornet, along with his sidekick Kato, is being brought back to the big screen and this time the hero will have screenwriter David Koepp in his corner. Koepp has been hired by Universal Pictures and Amasia Entertainment to pen the script for The Green Hornet and Kato.
Back in January of this crazy year, Amasia Entertainment’s co-founders Michael Helfant and Bradley Gallo entered a competitive bidding war for the motion picture franchise rights to the Green Hornet. When they were announced the winners, Helfant, who is the former head of Marvel Studios, expressed his unwavering passion for the character, also stating his belief that both the Green Hornet and Kato deserve to be showcased in their own universe.
“When I was a kid, The Green Hornet was one of my favorite television series. I loved everything about it – The Green Hornet, Kato, and of course, the Black Beauty. They were the coolest! It was personally painful to leave them all behind when I left Dimension. So I tried to option the property again at Marvel before it went over to Sony, and then again in 2017 before the rights landed at Paramount. […] This is one of the only stand-alone classic superhero franchises. We’re a bunch of fan geeks at Amasia and are thrilled about creating something fresh and truly worthy of this legacy property. A new world that is relevant and thrilling, while respecting and honoring the original vision of creator George W. Trendle,” Helfant said via Heroic Hollywood.
For Gallo’s part, he couldn’t contain his excitement at the prospects of creating a Green Hornet universe, but he was equally excited for his partner, Helfant. “As long as I’ve known Michael, he has expressed his loving ‘nerdom’ for Green Hornet and passed on his addiction to me. I am looking forward to bridging the film worlds of America and Asia – and I’m very grateful to be on this journey with Michael, Amasia, the Green Hornet family and fellow fans!”
Linda Trendle Hartle, who is the President of The Green Hornet, Inc., also spoke about Amasia taking on The Green Hornet and Kato, “On behalf of the family of George W. Trendle and The Green Hornet, Inc., we are excited to be working with Amasia Entertainment to bring the legacy of The Green Hornet & Kato back to theatres.”
The Green Hornet was first introduced to America back in the 1930s and was one of the radio’s earliest and most popular adventure shows. It even pre-dated Superman. Its popularity grew in the 1940s when it was turned into movie serials. It once again became popular in the late 1960s when it was brought to the small screen in the short-lived TV series that starred Van Williams as Britt Reid, the owner and publisher of The Daily Sentinel, who moonlights as the hero. It also introduced America to martial arts legend Bruce Lee as Kato. The series was also popular for the car they drove around in, the Black Beauty. The Green Hornet was a vigilante crime-fighter who was wanted by the police and at the same time feared by criminals.
Most recently, comedian Seth Rogen gave the world his take on the masked vigilante with his 2011 film that saw Rogen take on the role of Reid/Green Hornet while bringing along Jay Chou as Kato. Most fans did not appreciate Rogen’s version, so this new movie, with Koepp writing it, has a lot of promise. Koepp is the author of many huge blockbuster movies that include Jurassic Park, Carlito’s Way, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and Spider-Man. Koepp also wrote the screenplay for The Shadow, a movie starring Alec Baldwin, which was based on the 1930’s radio drama series.
Other than Koepp’s involvement, there is no word on who will be playing the two lead characters, but when that announcement comes, Giant Freakin Robot will be there to pass it along.
