BREAKING MOVIE/TV NEWS

Friday, October 15, 2010

Catch A Buzz With Columbia's "Green Hornet"

Sneak Peek the new poster, supporting Columbia Pictures' "The Green Hornet", starring Vancouver's Seth Rogen.

The action thriller will be presented in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters, January 14, 2011.

"We couldn't be more excited about 'The Green Hornet'," said Sony's marketing, distribution head Jeff Blake.

Directed by Michel Gondry, "The Green Hornet" is produced by Neal H. Moritz ("I Am Legend"), for executive producers Michael Grillo, Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Ori Marmur and the son of "The Green Hornet" creator, George W. Trendle, Jr.

"The Green Hornet" also stars Taiwanese actor/pop music star Jay Chou as 'Kato', Cameron Diaz ("The Mask"), Edward James Olmos ("Miami Vice"), David Harbour ("Revolutionary Road"), Tom Wilkinson ("Valkyrie") and the villain 'Chudnofsky' is played by Oscar-winning Austrian actor Christoph Waltz ( "Inglourious Basterds").

Academy Award-nominee John Schwartzman ("Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian"), was DP, production designer, Owen Paterson ("The Matrix Revolutions") and Kym Barrett ("Speed Racer") designed the costumes.

"...'Britt Reid' (Rogen) is the son of LA's most prominent media magnate, perfectly happy to maintain a directionless existence on the party scene – until his father (Tom Wilkinson) mysteriously dies, leaving Britt his vast media empire.

"Striking an unlikely friendship with one of his father's more industrious, inventive employees, 'Kato' (Chou), they see their chance to do something meaningful for the first time in their lives: fight crime.

"But in order to do this, they decide to become criminals themselves – protecting the law by breaking it as Britt becomes the vigilante The Green Hornet as he and Kato hit the streets.

"Using all his ingenuity and skill, Kato builds the ultimate in advanced retro weaponry, 'The Black Beauty', an indestructible car equal parts firepower and horsepower.

"Rolling in a mobile fortress on wheels and striking the bad guys with Kato's clever gadgets, The Green Hornet and Kato quickly start making a name for themselves, and with the help of Britt's new secretary, 'Lenore Case' (Diaz), they begin hunting down the man who controls LA's gritty underworld: 'Benjamin Chudnofsky' (Waltz).

"But Chudnofsky has plans of his own: to swat down The Green Hornet once and for all..."

"The Green Hornet" debuted January 31, 1936 on radio station WXYZ Detroit, the creation of George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, of "The Lone Ranger" fame.

Broadcasting until 1952 on the Mutual and NBC Blue networks, the series followed the adventures of 'Britt Reid', a bored playboy whose life changes when he inherits his father's newspaper 'The Daily Sentinel' and saves the life of 'Kato', a Japanese man with martial-arts skills.

After Reid and Kato witness a brutal crime, Reid becomes a crime-fighter, using two special, non-lethal guns, with one firing 'knock-out gas' and the other producing a 'Hornet's Sting' electric shock.

Following its successful run on radio, "The Green Hornet" ran in several comic books and a 1940's movie serial from Universal.

In 1966, the character made the jump to the ABC Television network, starring actor Van Williams as the Hornet and catapulting martial artist Bruce Lee as Kato to stardom.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Green Hornet"...