Sony’s Columbia Pictures has optioned screen rights to the classic radio and comic-book property The Green Hornet, according to Daily Variety. The studio behind the blockbuster Spider-Man franchise is apparently looking to erect another superhero tent pole to keep its summer coffers overflowing since big-screen plans for the web slinger are iffy after Spider-Man 3 debuts on May 4.
From Lone Ranger creators Fran Striker and George Trendle, The Green Hornet debuted as a radio serial in 1936 and eventually made its way to comics, television and film. The stories followed the adventures of Brit Reid, a millionaire publisher who dons a mask to fight crime with the help of his Asian valet, Kato.
No actors are yet attached to the project. The characters were first portrayed in serials by screen by Gordon Jones and Keye Luke, who was best known as ‘No. 1 Son’ in the Charlie Chan films. Martial arts legend Bruce Lee portrayed Kato alongside Van Williams as the title crime fighter in 26 episodes of the 1966 television incarnation. Several of the episodes were spliced together and released as a feature in 1974, but more recent attempts to bring the property to the big screen have been foiled. Universal had its eye on the franchise for a while and Clerks director Kevin Smith was at one time developing a script for Miramax.
Neal H. Moritz has been trying to secure the rights for a number of years and plans to produce the film through his Sony-based production company, Original Film. The producer of Click and Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift reportedly plans to Green Hornet out to writers soon as he works on the eagerly awaited comedy Evan Almighty starring Steve Carrel and a new adaptation of Richard Matheson’s supernatural action novel I Am Legend, which will star Will Smith in a role previously played by Vincent Price in The Last Man on Earth and Charlton Heston in Omega Man.
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