‘Green Hornet’ Movie Rights Land at Amasia Entertainment
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Amasia Entertainment has won the feature film franchise rights “The Green Hornet,” nine years after Seth Rogen took on the title role for Sony Pictures.
Amasia’s co-founders Michael Helfant and Bradley Gallo made the announcement Wednesday. Helfant is a veteran Hollywood executive who was president and chief operating officer of Marvel Studios for several years starting in 2005.
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“When I was a kid, ‘The Green Hornet’ was one of my favorite television series,” he said. “I loved everything about it – The Green Hornet, Kato, and of course, the Black Beauty. They were the coolest! It was personally painful to leave them all behind when I left Dimension. So I tried to option the property again at Marvel before it went over to Sony, and then again in 2017 before the rights landed at Paramount.”
“The Green Hornet” originated as a radio show during the 1930s based on the vigilante Britt Reid character, owner/publisher of The Daily Sentinel. The 1966 TV series introduced Bruce Lee to the United States as Reid’s sidekick Kato.
The 2011 movie was produced by Neal Moritz, and directed by Michel Gondry from a screenplay by Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Jay Chou, Christoph Waltz, Edward James Olmos, David Harbour, Tom Wilkinson and Cameron Diaz also starred. “The Green Hornet” generated $227 million worldside at the box office on a $120 million budget.
Paramount and Chernin Entertainment teamed up on developing a “Green Hornet” movie in 2016 with Gavin O’Connor attached to direct but the project never went into production.
“This is one of the only stand-alone classic superhero franchises,” Helfant said. “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.”
Linda Trendle Hartle, president of The Green Hornet Inc., said, “On behalf of the family of George W Trendle and The Green Hornet, Inc., we are excited to be working with Amasia Entertainment to bring the legacy of The Green Hornet & Kato back to theaters.”
Amasia is executive producing “Dark Shadows: Reincarnation” and is currently in post-production on John Patrick Shanley’s “Wild Mountain Thyme,” starring Emily Blunt, Jamie Dornan, Christoper Walken and Jon Hamm. Amasia also recently released “Them That Follow,” which Olivia Colman, Kaitlyn Dever, Alice Englert, Jim Gaffigan, Walton Goggins, Thomas Mann and Lewis Pullman.
The deal was negotiated on behalf of The Green Hornet Inc. by David Grace of Loeb & Loeb.
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