The Green Hornet Film Finally in Motion
Columbia Pictures announces purchase of film rights to character.
The Green Hornet is finally to come to the big screen. Columbia Pictures has just announced that they have optioned the rights to the Green Hornet franchise. Neal Moritz's Original Films is set to produce the film.
The Green Hornet, though often thought of as a comic book franchise, actually has its roots in radio. The masked hero and his sidekick, Kato, debuted in 1936 in their radio show. The story later transitioned to comic books in 1940. The best known version of the story is probably a short-lived series on ABC which starred Van Williams as Brit Reid/The Green Hornet, and Bruce Lee as Kato. The pair drove around fighting crime in a tricked-out 1965 Chrysler Imperial.
The Green Hornet has been placed on the back burner several times in the past, with rumors or scripts of a movie in the works surfacing in the 1990s, 2002, and 2004. Actors George Clooney, Jet Li, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Jason Scott Lee have been linked to film production rumors in the past. As of yet, there is no writer or director signed on with the film.
