Leigh Whannell in Talks to Direct The Green Hornet and Kato Film

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Leigh Whannell in Talks to Direct The Green Hornet and Kato Film

Director Leigh Whannell is in negotiations to direct The Green Hornet and Kato for Universal, according to a recent report from Deadline.

Whannell is said to have had the edge once he threw his name into the running for the upcoming Universal picture, especially after his work on 2020’s The Invisible Man, which was released by Universal Pictures to critical acclaim and box-office success prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Green Hornet and Kato began development in the spring of 2020, when Universal optioned the rights to a film based on the character from Amasia Entertainment. Not too much has been announced on the upcoming film, but screenwriter David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Spider-Man, Mission: Impossible) has already turned in a script that Deadline reports the studio is high on, with hopes of closing a deal on a director and starting pre-production immediately.

The characters were first created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker in 1936. The Green Hornet was one of early radio’s most popular adventure shows, predating Superman, before being turned into 1940s movie serials from Universal. A 1966 TV series, distributed by 20th Century Fox TV, followed, introducing Bruce Lee (Kato) to the United States.

The story centers around Britt Reid, owner/publisher of The Daily Sentinel. Armed with knowledge from his sources, cool weapons, a supercar known as The Black Beauty, and his trusty aide Kato, Reid became The Green Hornet, a vigilante crime fighter wanted by the police and feared by the criminal world.