The Green Hornet made his debut on January 31, 1936 on WXYZ Detroit, the creation of the station’s George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, who also created the Lone Ranger. The series, which ran until 1952 on the Mutual and NBC Blue networks, followed the adventures of Brit Reid, a bored playboy whose life is changed when he inherits his father’s crusading newspaper, The Daily Sentinel. He saves the life of Kato, a Japanese man with incredible technical and martial-arts skills, who becomes Brit’s closest ally — and transforms Brit’s car into the supercharged Black Beauty, which gives them an edge as they search for evidence to expose the city’s underworld in the newspaper. When Brit and Kato witness a brutal mob hit, Brit invents his secret identity — taking his name from his powerful car’s defective horn. A skilled fighter and expert marksman, “The Green Hornet” uses two special, non-lethal guns to subdue criminals: one fires a potent knock-out gas while the other produces the “Hornet’s Sting” — an electric shock.
The movie “The Green Hornet” stars Seth Rogen of fame as Britt Reid (Seth Rogen), son and heir to Los Angeles’ largest newspaper fortune, who is a rich, spoiled playboy who has been happy to maintain a direction-less existence. When his father James Reid (Tom Wilkinson) dies, Britt meets an impressive and resourceful company employee, Kato (Jay Chou). They realize that they have the resources to do something worthwhile with their lives and finally step out of James Reid’s shadow. Kato builds the ultimate weapon, The Black Beauty, an indestructible car with every weapon imaginable and Britt decides that in order to be heroes, they will pose as villains. With the help of Britt’s new secretary, Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz), they learn that the chief criminal in the city is named Benjamin Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz). He has united all the gangs under his power, and he quickly sees that the Green Hornet is a direct threat to the prosperous criminal underworld he controls.
Michel Gondry of “Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind” fame directed. It is being released in 3D – converted 3D, ala Clash Of The Titans – and is expected to be a movie box office bomb of epic proportions.
