Film trailer: Seth Rogen’s 'The Green Hornet' sets fans abuzz

Seth Rogen will collaborate with Evan Goldberg on the film (AFP PHOTO / VALERIE MACON)

The first trailer for the superhero action-comedy The Green Hornet has debuted online, providing a sneak peak at Seth Rogen's version of this comic book character, due in theaters in 3D on January 14, 2011.

Britt Reid aka The Green Hornet is played by Rogen ( Knocked Up, Funny People) who offers a wisecracking take on the role which originated on radio in the 1930s and was later adapted for a television series and comic books.

The footage depicts the partying playboy son of a media mogul who gets a wake-up call when his father is murdered. The son inherits his publishing business and a sudden notion about doing something worthwhile with his life.

He enlists his dead dad's butler, the martial arts master, Kato, so that they can fight crime by posing as bad guys. Taiwanese singer/actor Jay Chou plays Kato, his gadget-crazy sidekick.

The cartoon-like violence and humor might turn off diehard superhero fans, but the comedic treatment will likely appeal to many moviegoers.

The film also features Oscar winner Christoph Waltz ( Inglourious Basterds) as the bad guy, Cameron Diaz ( Knight & Day) as the secretary, Edward James Olmos ( Battlestar Galactica) and Tom Wilkinson ( The Ghost Writer).

Co-written by Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who also wrote Superbad and Pineapple Express, the film features "The Black Beauty," a 1965 Imperial that's rigged up to serve as the masked vigilante's vehicle.

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thegreenhornet/

RC