Green Hornet is flying to the big screen

Radio, TV and comic-book hero has endured since 1936

Van Williams starred as the titular crime-fighter in TV's "The Green Hornet" in 1966. Bruce Lee played Kato.

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updated 4:46 p.m. ET March 22, 2007

CULVER CITY, Calif. - There's a new buzz in Hollywood: Columbia Pictures is bringing comic-book hero The Green Hornet to the big screen.

The crime-fighting exploits of The Green Hornet have been chronicled for decades on radio, television and in comic books. On Tuesday, Sony Corp.'s Columbia Pictures said it was making a motion picture on the newspaper hero.

Neal H. Moritz and Original Film will produce the movie, Columbia Pictures production presidents Matt Tolmach and Doug Belgrad said. Columbia optioned the rights to The Green Hornet from Moritz, who acquired the rights from Green Hornet Inc.

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"With the radio show, television program, comic books and novels, there is ample source material to bring this classic crime fighter to life," Moritz said in a statement.

The Green Hornet made his debut Jan. 31, 1936, on WXYZ Detroit as the creation of George Trendle and Fran Striker, who also created the Lone Ranger. The series ran until 1952 on the Mutual and NBC Blue networks.

The Green Hornet ran in several comic books and, in 1966, the character was turned into an ABC-TV series starring Van Williams as The Green Hornet and Bruce Lee as Kato. It ran for one season.

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