Pull the car around Kato, the smart-suited crime fighter Green Hornet might be back on our screens sooner than expected. Following the forgettable reboot starring Seth Rogan in 2011, Universal are optioning the rights to produce a new movie. The project is currently titled Green Hornet and Kato, signalling that the Hornet’s vigilante sidekick might be on equal footing this time.
Can’t tell your Green Hornet from your Green Lantern? Allow us to give you a little history lesson. The Green Hornet is the gun-toting vigilante alter ego of Britt Reid, the American newspaper publisher behind The Daily Sentinel. His Robin-esque sidekick Kato was once his valet, and the pair now speed around town in a car affectionately named Black Beauty.
Having begun life as a radio show during the ‘30s, Green Hornet’s story was adapted to TV screens in 1966, with Bruce Lee famously playing Kato – his break-out role in Hollywood.
The Hornet has been through production hell over the last decade. After the 2011 movie was panned by critics, Sony let the rights lapse and Paramount swooped in, offering Gavin O’Connor the director’s chair in 2016. While O’Connor called it a passion project, the movie never actually went into production. Now, Amasia Entertainment has the rights back and are reportedly teaming up with Universal to give Hornet and Kato the movie they deserve.
“Our goal is to make a film that existing fans will love, and new fans will love to discover,” Amasia’s Michael Helfant said in his statement. “With Universal, it feels like we are merging the past and the future, creating a contemporary version of the franchise that is fresh and exciting while respecting its long legacy and history.”
It’s early days, with no writers or creative team yet announced, but it sounds like the Green Hornet is back in the right hands and could be the next great cinematic superhero.
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