‘Green Hornet 2′ Not Buzzing Into Theatres Anytime Soon

If you've been holding your breath in anticipation of a sequel to last year's 'The Green Hornet,' you can exhale now. Producer Neal H. Moritz said a new interview that a follow-up to last year's resurrection of the masked crimefighter, which starred Seth Rogen in the title role, is not happening. He explains:

Moritz told the Hollywood Reporter, "We're not making a sequel right now," but it doesn't seem likely that one will be on the drawing board at any point in the future either.

The star of radio shows, movie serials, a TV series and comic books since the 1930s -- but largely forgotten since the 1960s -- the Hornet was rebooted by Rogen and his writing partner Evan Goldberg for Moritz and director Michel Gondry after the character was kicking around in development at various studios for nearly 20 years.

The idea of Rogen playing a superhero -- albeit one without any special powers -- seemed odd, and the movie was confusingly marketed as both a comedy and an action thriller. Still, despite bad buzz and poor reviews, it managed to gross $98 million in the U.S. and another $150 million overseas.

Moritz said that those numbers were pretty respectable -- until you factor in the movie's $120 million budget. "The movie did almost $250 million and was actually very well liked," he told the Reporter, "But we made the movie for too much money. One, we made it in L.A. for certain reasons, and two, we decided to go to 3D -- that added another $10 million. If I had done it in a tax-rebate state and not done 3D, it would have been considered a huge financial success for the studio."

That could be the case, but even so, would it have warranted a sequel anyway? Just 14 months after its release, does anyone even remember 'The Green Hornet,' let alone pine for a second chapter? Somehow we doubt that.