The Green Hornet has been around since 1936, but modern audiences mostly know the pre-Golden Age pulp superhero from the 2011 live-action flop starring Seth Rogen in the titular role and Jay Chou as his sidekick, Kato. But one former Marvel exec is hoping to change that and inject new life into the franchise.
THR broke the news that former Marvel Studios president and COO Michael Helfant has won the live-action movie rights and plans to relaunch the franchise under his Amasia Entertainment banner alongside Amasia partner Bradley Gallo. Helfant spoke about his excitement at acquiring the classic character:
“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.”
Curiously, Helfant also said he hoped to “bridge the film worlds of America and Asia” with The Green Hornet franchise, a statement that could be interpreted a number of ways: One could translate that as “We’ll get Chinese backing to fund this movie,” or it could mean it leans on a martial arts-heavy background that straddles Eastern and Western action – plenty of you reading this might not have known or forgot, after all, that Bruce Lee got his big breakout in America playing Kato in the Green Hornet series in the ’60s.
It will be interesting to see what Amasia does with the character. The movie rights have changed hands a number of times in the last few years, bouncing from Universal to Dimension to Sony and, most recently, to Paramount. Director Gavin O’Connor was reportedly developing a gritty and grounded take on the superhero when the rights were with Paramount, but the project never came to fruition.
If anyone knows how to launch a brand-new superhero franchise, it’s Helfant. His run at Marvel spanned the time that saw the studio turn to its current self-financing model and launch Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. Here’s to hoping he can do for Green Hornet what he did for the big green ragemonster and ol’ Shellhead.
