Green Hornet Pushed to December 2010

Published by Jeff Leins on: August 30th, 2009

In a move that should be surprising to no one, Sony has quietly relocated the Seth Rogen action/comedy The Green Hornet to December 17, 2010.  The five month delay is a result of the numerous setbacks, most notably Stephen Chow’s commitment as director and co-star and subsequent departure.

Collider picked up on the switch over at BoxOfficeMojo, which is usually pretty on top of schedule changes.  The pre-Christmas date gives it plenty of room considering it hasn’t started principal photography for what would have been a summer release.  The new date also gets out of the way from Sandler’s Grown Ups and Rodriguez’s Predators.

As uninteresting at this movie sounds to some, it isn’t dead.  Michel Gondry has signed to direct, Hornet sidekick Kato has been recast, Cameron Diaz is in talks for the love interest, and Nicolas Cage is possibly filling the villain role.  What a weird mix, and on a 30’s radio rehash no less.

Here’s what Rogen told Drew at HitFix about the move: “We’re both relieved and psyched about the change.  It gives more time for post, which would have been immensely rushed if we were to come out in the summer.  It also affords us more time to promote the film, (now we can go to Comic-Con with more than a car!) and ultimately is a great vote of confidence from the studio.  We got the same date that movies like ‘I Am Legend’ and ‘Avatar’ are getting, so we’re thrilled to be there.”

It should be decent counter-programming against the other movies currently holding that weekend, Smurfs 3-D and Yogi Bear.