title: Santa Clarita, California

text: The Centre Pointe Business Park is located near the city's geographic center, south of Soledad Canyon Road on both sides of Golden Valley Road. It includes the Centre Pointe Village and Centre Pointe Marketplace shopping centers, with tenants such as Sam's Club, Walmart, Dick's Sporting Goods, Ashley HomeStore, Jo-Ann, Spirit Halloween, Rattler's Bar B Que, Bank of America, and Starbucks; other businesses such as the Country Antique Fair Mall, Mountasia Family Fun Center, operations facility of John Paul Mitchell Systems, Bocchi Laboratories, Top Out Climbing Gym, Home Depot, Pep Boys, and several body shops; Bowman High School; and the William S. Hart Union High School District headquarters.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: Other industrial areas in the city include Saugus Station, on the east side of Railroad Avenue; Valencia Corporate Center, on Tourney Road just east of Interstate 5; Needham Ranch, on Sierra Highway south of Newhall Avenue; and Vista Canyon, on Lost Canyon Road west of Sand Canyon Road. The unincorporated area of Valencia west of Interstate 5 also contains several business parks, such as the Valencia Commerce Center.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: The City of Santa Clarita and surrounding communities are served by several local media organizations.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: Santa Clarita is served by the "Los Angeles Daily News" and "The Santa Clarita Valley Signal". The "Daily News" primarily focuses on news, sports and entertainment stories in the city of Los Angeles and adjacent areas, but also covers Santa Clarita periodically. "Daily News" circulation numbers within the Santa Clarita Valley are not known.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: The primary daily newspaper, "The Santa Clarita Valley Signal", was founded in 1919. In 2012, it had a weekday circulation of 10,454 and a Sunday circulation of 11,598. Until 2018, the newspaper focused almost exclusively on local news, sports, entertainment and features. In October 2016, the "Signal" moved its headquarters from Creekside Road in Valencia to Diamond Place near Centre Pointe Parkway; since October 2021, it has been headquartered on Avenue Stanford in the Valencia Industrial Center.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: From 1979 to 2016, the "Signal" was owned by Morris Multimedia, a company based in Savannah, Georgia. In 2016, Morris Multimedia sold the "Signal" to Paladin Multi-Media Group. In June 2018, Richard and Chris Budman purchased Paladin and began to publish a new free Sunday magazine, featuring a column by editor-in-chief Tim Whyte under the byline "Black and Whyte". According to an October 9, 2018 article in the "Columbia Journalism Review" (CJR), the new management led to a conservative shift in the paper's editorial stance, which prompted a group of progressives in the Santa Clarita Valley to start their own news outlet, the "Proclaimer".


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: The primary radio station serving the Santa Clarita Valley is the Hometown Station, or KHTS. KHTS broadcasts on FM 98.1 and AM 1220. The KHTS transmitters are located along Sierra Highway in unincorporated northern Canyon Country, and its studios have been in Old Town Newhall since June 2015. KHTS was founded as KBET in 1984 and was renamed KIIS and later KHTS. KHTS is a full-service station — it covers local news, including talk shows, high school and college sports, as well as professional sports in the Los Angeles area.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: The region is also served by FM-101.5 KZNQ-LP, Santa Clarita's first local FM radio station. It features a non-profit country music format owned and is operated by Santa Clarita Public Broadcasters Corporation, transmitting from Round Mountain in the city of Santa Clarita since 2015.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: In addition to KHTS and KZNQ-LP, Santa Clarita and its surrounding communities are indirectly served by a number of major market Los Angeles FM and AM radio stations.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: There are also several other Internet-based radio stations that serve the public in the Santa Clarita Valley.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: All local programming for Santa Clarita is carried on a single public-access television cable TV channel, which is operated by SCVTV, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. It is available to Spectrum Cable customers throughout the Santa Clarita Valley on Channel 20 and to AT&T U-verse customers under local programming (Channel 99/Santa Clarita). SCVTV carries public, educational and government programming, including Santa Clarita City Council and Planning Commission meetings, history shows, high school and college news programs, talk shows, football games, and other programs of local interest. SCVTV also runs the local news website scvnews.com and the history website scvhistory.com. scvhistory.com contains archives of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: There are no commercial over-the-air television stations in the Santa Clarita Valley. The city is part of the Los Angeles media market. Digital signals from the Los Angeles stations are available on local cable television systems, DirecTV, and Dish Network.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: Magazines serving the Santa Clarita Valley include "Seasons" (which covers city-sponsored recreational programs), "élite", "Santa Clarita Magazine" and "Inside SCV".


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: City of Santa Clarita Transit, formerly known simply as Santa Clarita Transit, provides extensive bus service within the Santa Clarita Valley and to/from North Hollywood in the San Fernando Valley. City of Santa Clarita Transit is operated by MV Transportation, under contract with the city of Santa Clarita.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: On weekdays, City of Santa Clarita Transit operates commuter buses to/from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles and North Hollywood Station (operating seven days per week as the "NoHo Express/757"), allowing riders to access Metro Los Angeles rapid transit subway and light rail services, as well as Warner Center, Burbank, Van Nuys, and Century City. On weekdays when school is in session, City of Santa Clarita Transit operates supplemental school-day service with routes and scheduled stops designed around various schools within the Santa Clarita Valley.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: City of Santa Clarita Transit also operates Dial-A-Ride service for seniors and the disabled. The service allows for pick-up and drop-off at any address within the City of Santa Clarita and within a three-quarter mile radius of the nearest fixed route bus stop in unincorporated areas.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: City of Santa Clarita Transit operates weekdays from 4:55 a.m.–10:30 p.m., Saturdays from 6:30 a.m.-9:45 p.m., and on Sundays from 7:15 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Service operates as frequently as every 10 minutes during peak periods to every 85 minutes during off-peak hours. Typically, buses operate every 25 to 60 minutes.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: Metrolink provides commuter passenger train service to the Santa Clarita Valley along its Antelope Valley Line which runs from Lancaster to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, where transfers can be made to destinations in Southern California and the rest of the nation. There are three Metrolink stations in the city: Via Princessa in Canyon Country, Santa Clarita station in Saugus (near the geographic center of the city), and Newhall station in Newhall. All stations have large parking lots to allow commuters to park and ride. An additional Metrolink station known as Vista Canyon is slated for construction in Canyon Country, east of the current Via Princessa station. Metrolink service operates 7 days a week, with reduced service on Saturdays and Sundays.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: There are a series of bike trails and walking paths threaded throughout the city. Bicyclists can ride from the eastern end of the city in Canyon Country along a paved path which is independent from automobile traffic all the way to Valencia on the Santa Clara River Trail. This path closely follows the Santa Clara River and Soledad Canyon Road. There are many jumping-off points along this route providing access to neighborhoods, Metrolink stations and commerce. In Valencia, there are several pedestrian bridges called "paseos" connected to the bike path network. The paseos keep riders and walkers above and away from automobile traffic. The neighborhoods in Valencia were planned to include an ample amount of walking and riding paths that connect to this overall network. Santa Clarita contains over of bicycle routes. In 2007, the League of American Bicyclists awarded Santa Clarita its bronze designation as a bicycle friendly community.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: There are no airports in the city of Santa Clarita. The nearest airports are the small Agua Dulce Airpark and Whiteman Airport in Agua Dulce and Pacoima, respectively. Commercial flights are served by Bob Hope Airport in Burbank and Los Angeles International Airport in the city of Los Angeles, located and from Santa Clarita's Central Park, respectively.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: Santa Clarita, along with other foothill regions in Greater Los Angeles, is known for its movie ranches. The valley contains multiple movie ranches including Melody Ranch, Sable Ranch, Rancho Deluxe, Golden Oak Ranch, Blue Cloud Movie Ranch, and Veluzat Movie Ranch. These movie ranches lie within the studio zone, the area within a radius of the intersection of Beverly and La Cienega Boulevards in West Los Angeles. Movie ranches are a major contributor to Santa Clarita's economy, and the valley has been nicknamed "Hollywood North." Movies and TV shows filmed in Santa Clarita include "Django Unchained", "NCIS", "Franklin & Bash", "Jane by Design", "Make It or Break It", "The Muppets", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "24", and "Old Yeller".


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: Other filming locations in the Santa Clarita Valley include CalArts, Castaic Lake, College of the Canyons, Westfield Valencia Town Center, Placerita Canyon State Park, Southern California Innovation Park (an office park in Valencia), Saugus Cafe, and Halfway House Cafe on the outskirts of Canyon Country. Vasquez Rocks, located in Agua Dulce about northeast of the city, has also been used as a filming location for numerous movies and shows.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: Santa Clarita was the setting of the horror-comedy show "Santa Clarita Diet", which debuted on February 3, 2017 and was canceled on April 26, 2019. The show revolves around real estate agents Joel and Sheila Hammond. Sheila Hammond becomes undead and starts craving human flesh. As Joel and the family try helping Sheila during her metamorphosis, they have to deal with neighbors and cultural norms.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: Santa Clarita has been the home of many well-known stars of Western film, including William S. Hart, Harry Carey, John Ford, and Gene Autry. Western film, television, and radio figures are honored at the Walk of Western Stars, located along Main Street in Old Town Newhall. Each April, the city of Santa Clarita inducts one or two new honorees into the Walk of Western Stars. The walk was founded in 1981; previous honorees have included Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, John Wayne, Sam Elliott, Richard Farnsworth, and Bruce Dern. The induction ceremony is held in conjunction with the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival at William S. Hart Park.


title: Santa Clarita, California

text: The Packard Humanities Institute, headquartered in Los Altos, also has a campus in Santa Clarita. The campus, which opened in 2014, is located in Valencia directly south of College of the Canyons. It includes a film preservation facility which houses more than 400,000 films from Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Republic Pictures.


title: Pollock

text: Pollock or pollack (pronounced ) is the common name used for either of the two species of North Atlantic marine fish in the genus Pollachius. "Pollachius pollachius" is referred to as pollock in North America, Ireland and the United Kingdom, while "Pollachius virens" is usually known as saithe or coley in Great Britain and Ireland (derived from the older name coalfish). Other names for "P. pollachius" include the Atlantic pollock, European pollock, lieu jaune, and lythe; while "P. virens" is also known as Boston blue (distinct from bluefish), silver bill, or saithe.


title: Pollock

text: Both species can grow to and can weigh up to . "P. virens" has a strongly defined, silvery lateral line running down the sides. Above the lateral line, the colour is a greenish black. The belly is white, while "P. pollachius" has a distinctly crooked lateral line, grayish to golden belly, and a dark brown back. "P. pollachius" also has a strong underbite. It can be found in water up to deep over rocks and anywhere in the water column. Pollock is a whitefish.


title: Pollock

text: Atlantic pollock is largely considered to be a whitefish. Traditionally a popular source of food in some countries, such as Norway, in the United Kingdom it has previously been largely consumed as a cheaper and versatile alternative to cod and haddock. However, in recent years, pollock has become more popular due to overfishing of cod and haddock. It can now be found in most supermarkets as fresh fillets or prepared freezer items. For example, it is used minced in fish fingers or as an ingredient in imitation crab meat and is commonly used to make fish and chips.


title: Pollock

text: In 2009, UK supermarket Sainsbury's briefly renamed Atlantic pollock "colin" in a bid to boost ecofriendly sales of the fish as an alternative to cod. Sainsbury's, which said the new name was derived from the French for cooked pollock (), launched the product under the banner "Colin and chips can save British cod."


title: Pollock

text: Pollock is regarded as a "low-mercury fish" – a woman weighing can safely eat up to per week, and a child weighing can safely eat up to .


title: Pollock

text: One member of the genus "Gadus" is also commonly referred to as pollock: the Alaska pollock or walleye pollock ("Gadus chalcogrammus"), including the form known as the Norway pollock. They are also members of the family Gadidae but not members of the genus "Pollachius".


title: The Kinks discography

text: The Kinks were active for over three decades between 1964 and 1997, releasing 24 studio and 4 live albums. The first 2 albums are differently released in UK and US partly due to the difference in popularity of the extended play format (the UK market liked it, the US market did not, so US albums had the EP releases bundled onto them), and partly due to the US albums including the hit singles, and the UK albums not; after "The Kink Kontroversy" in 1965 the albums were the same. There have been somewhere between 100 and 200 compilation albums released worldwide.


title: The Kinks discography

text: Their hit singles included three UK number-one singles, starting in 1964 with "You Really Got Me"; plus 18 Top 40 singles in the 1960s alone and further Top 40 hits in the 1970s and 1980s. The Kinks had five Top 10 singles on the US "Billboard" chart. Nine of their albums charted in the Top 40. In the UK, the group had seventeen Top 20 singles along with five Top 10 albums. The RIAA has certified four of the Kinks' albums as gold records. "The Kinks Greatest Hits!", released in 1966, was certified gold for sales totaling of one million dollars on 28 November 1968—six days after the release of "The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society", which failed to chart worldwide. The group would not receive another gold record award until 1979's "Low Budget". The 1980 live album "One For The Road" was certified gold on 8December 1980. "Give The People What They Want", released in 1981, received its certification on 25 January 1982, for sales of 500,000 copies. ASCAP, the performing-rights group, presented the Kinks with an award for "One of the Most Played Songs of 1983" for the hit single "Come Dancing".


title: Team Ninja

text: Team Ninja was formed by Tomonobu Itagaki from a group of game designers working at Tecmo specifically for the purpose of creating the home versions of the fighting game "Dead or Alive" and its sequel, "Dead or Alive 2". In 2008, the action-adventure game "Ninja Gaiden II" for the Xbox 360 was published by Microsoft Game Studios, making it the first game created by Team Ninja to not be published by Tecmo; Tecmo Koei later released an enhanced version of "Ninja Gaiden II" on the PlayStation 3 as "Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2".


title: Team Ninja

text: On June 3, 2008, Itagaki announced that he would be leaving Tecmo and Team Ninja on July 1, 2008, citing difficulties with the company. In the same statement announcing his resignation, he also announced that he was filing a lawsuit against Tecmo over unpaid bonuses for his work on "Dead or Alive 4" for the Xbox 360. It was later reported that he was fired from Tecmo on June 18, 2008 in retaliation for his lawsuit. Many of his colleagues at Team Ninja quit as well to join him at his new game development team, Valhalla Game Studios. Some ex-Team Ninja members also helped with Ubisoft's "".


title: Team Ninja

text: Team Ninja also worked on multiple titles for Nintendo. In 2010, Team Ninja co-developed a new "Metroid" action-adventure game for Nintendo's Wii console, titled "" (a playable Stage from "Other M" later appeared in ""). While being well known for their development of the "Dead or Alive" series of games, "SEGA AM2" has since collaborated with Team Ninja on the development of the franchise since 2012, starting with " Dead or Alive 5" including the updated versions of the games, such as "" as well as "Dead or Alive 6", the latter of which is utilizing a revised graphics engine made by " SEGA AM2" specifically for the latest installment in the series. They also collaborated with Omega Force for "Hyrule Warriors", an action game set in "The Legend of Zelda" universe, in 2014.


title: Team Ninja

text: In 2013, following a reconstructing of Koei Tecmo, Team Ninja was split into two distinct development teams. They are dubbed Ichigaya Development Group 1 (led by "Ninja Gaiden Sigma" director Yosuke Hayashi) and Ichigaya Development Group 2 (led by "Fatal Frame" producer Keisuke Kikuchi).


title: Team Ninja

text: In 2016, Team Ninja garnered public attention after their decision to not release "Dead or Alive Xtreme 3" in North America or Europe, resulting in a controversy within the video game industry about the sexualised portrayal of female characters within their games. Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Shuhei Yoshida said in a statement; "It's due to cultural differences. The West has its own thinking about how to depict women in games media which is different from Japan."


title: Team Ninja

text: In 2017, Team Ninja released their new action-adventure game "Nioh", which has received multiple revisions and has been in development since 2004, to great critical response. They released "" for the Nintendo Switch in 2019 as well as "Dead or Alive 6". Team Ninja released the prequel to "Nioh", "Nioh 2", in March 2020. Team Ninja released compilation, "", in June 2021.


title: Team Ninja

text: As of 2022, Yosuke Hayashi had left Team Ninja to serve as the general manager of Koei Tecmo's entertainment division, with Fumihiko Yasuda replacing him as president.


title: Travel agency

text: A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destination. Travel agencies can provide outdoor recreation activities, airlines, car rentals, cruise lines, hotels, railways, travel insurance, package tours, insurance, guide books, VIP airport lounge access, arranging logistics for luggage and medical items delivery for travellers upon request, public transport timetables, car rentals, and bureau de change services. Travel agencies can also serve as general sales agents for airlines that do not have offices in a specific region. A travel agency's main function is to act as an agent, selling travel products and services on behalf of a supplier. They are also called Travel Advisors. They do not keep inventory in-hand unless they have pre-booked hotel rooms or cabins on a cruise ship for a group travel event such as a wedding, honeymoon, or other group event.


title: Travel agency

text: Travel agencies often receive commissions and other benefits and incentives from providers or may charge a fee to the end users. Hotel owners and tour operators typically pay a higher commission rate to travel agencies, whereas airlines typically pay a low commission. The customer is normally not made aware of how much the travel agent is earning in commissions and other benefits. A 2016 survey of 1,193 travel agents in the United States found that on average 78% of their revenue was from commissions and 22% was generated from fees.


title: Travel agency

text: Travel agencies use the services of the major computer reservations systems, also known as global distribution systems (GDS), including: Amadeus CRS, Galileo GDS, Sabre, and Worldspan, which is a subsidiary of Travelport, which allow for comparison and sorting of hotel and flight rates with multiple companies. Bookings made via travel agents, including online travel agents, may or may not be confirmed instantly. Unlike online travel agencies, metasearch engines and scraper sites, such as Skyscanner, Kayak.com, Rome2rio, and TripAdvisor, may or may not have their own booking engine, and instead provide results for search queries and then divert traffic to service providers or online travel agencies for booking. Travel agents may also work with airline consolidators.


title: Travel agency

text: Booking Holdings and Expedia Group, both online travel agencies, are the largest travel agencies on the list of top earning travel companies. Travel agencies can be multinational companies, referred to as "multiples" in the United Kingdom. They can also be medium-sized organizations, referred to as "miniples" in the United Kingdom, or can be independent, small companies. They can be structured as a limited liability company, a sole proprietorship, or can be set up as a host, franchising, or consortium structure, such as in the case of CWT. A traditional travel agent may work for a travel agency or work freelance. Helloworld Travel is an example of a franchised travel agency, giving agents access to internal systems for product and bookings. While most point-to-point travel is now booked online, traditional agents specialize in niche markets such as corporate travel, luxury travel, cruises, complicated and important trips, and specialty trips. Other niche markets include travelers with disabilities, travelers over the age of 60, women traveling alone, LGBT tourism, the needs of residents in an upmarket commuter town or suburb, or a particular group interested in a similar activity, such as a sport. Examples include StudentUniverse and STA Travel, which specialize in youth travel, or CWT, which caters to corporate travel. Many use remote work to reduce overhead or provide concierge services. Agents can act as "travel consultants" with extensive knowledge of destination regions and specialize in topics like nautical tourism or cultural tourism. Many traditional agents prefer the term "travel advisor" as opposed to "travel agent" to emphasize their advice, expertise, and connections that are of great value. There are also direct-to-local booking agencies that connect users with travel experts in the country they plan to visit instead of their travel agents in their country of residence. "Outbound" travel agencies offer multi-destinations; "inbound" travel agencies are based in the destination and deliver an expertise on that location.


title: Travel agency

text: In many countries, all travel agencies are required to be licensed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Many are also bonded and represented by IATA, and, for those that issue air tickets, the Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (ATOL) in the United Kingdom, and the Airlines Reporting Corporation in the United States also serve those purposes. ABTA – The Travel Association the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA) The American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA), represent travel agencies in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States respectively.


title: Travel agency

text: In 1840, the Abreu Agency was established in Porto by Bernardo Abreu, becoming the world's first agency to open its services to the public.


title: Travel agency

text: In 1841, Thomas Cook, a Baptist preacher who believed that alcohol was to blame for social problems, reached an agreement with the Midland Railway to organize the transportation of 500 members of his temperance movement from the Leicester Campbell Street railway station to a rally in Loughborough in exchange for a commission. He formed Thomas Cook & Son, which later became The Thomas Cook Group. It filed bankruptcy and underwent liquidation in 2019.


title: Travel agency

text: In 1871, Dean and Dawson was founded in the United Kingdom and in the 1950s, it was acquired by Thomas Cook.


title: Travel agency

text: In 1887, Walter T. Brownell established Brownell Travel, the first travel agency in the United States, and led 10 travelers on a European tour setting sail from New York on the SS "Devonia".


title: Travel agency

text: In 1895, Baldwins Travel was founded by Alfred K Baldwin, originally a printer, bookbinder and publisher in Tunbridge Wells. Baldwins begins selling railway tickets and helping friends to travel to Europe and beyond. News spreads and the former printers slowly build a strong side-line in travel at the back of the Baldwins Stationery shop at 27 Grosvenor Road.


title: Travel agency

text: Originally, travel agencies largely catered to middle and upper-class customers but they became more commonplace with the development of commercial aviation.


title: Travel agency

text: In 1923, after being treated badly by a British travel agency, K. P. Chen formed what became the China Travel Service, the first travel agency in China.


title: Travel agency

text: The industry suffered during World War II. However, the Post–World War II economic expansion in mass-market package tours resulted in the proliferation of travel agencies catering to the working class.


title: Travel agency

text: In 1929, Intourist was formed as the official state travel agency of the Soviet Union, with the goal of convincing outsiders to visit the country.


title: Travel agency

text: During the Cold War, travel agents were used by people from Western countries to travel behind the Iron Curtain.


title: Travel agency

text: In 1955, Henderson Travel Service became the first black-owned travel company and the first to take large groups of black tourists to Africa.


title: Travel agency

text: In the early 1980s, American Airlines' Sabre unit created a direct-to-consumer booking tool for flights, hotels and cars called eAAsySabre.


title: Travel agency

text: In 1989, with the liberalization of travel for South Koreans, Mode Tour became the first travel agency in the country.


title: Travel agency

text: In 1991, Hotel Reservations Network, the precursor of Hotels.com, was founded. At first, hotels did not pay much in commissions.


title: Travel agency

text: With the advent of the internet, travel agencies migrated online and underwent disintermediation by the reduction in costs caused by removing layers from the package holiday distribution network.


title: Travel agency

text: In October 1996, Expedia.com, funded with hundreds of millions of dollars by Microsoft launched as the first large online travel agency.


title: Travel agency

text: In 1999, European airlines began eliminating or reducing commissions, while Singapore Airlines did so in parts of Asia. In 2002, several airlines in the United States did the same, which led to an unsuccessful lawsuit alleging collusion among the airlines, that was decided on appeal in 2009.


title: Travel agency

text: In 2021, travel agency Baldwins Travel Group, which was founded in 1895 was bought by business group Inc & Co.


title: Travel agency

text: According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2019, there were 82,000 people who worked as travel agents for their full-time jobs. That number is projected to decrease by 26% over the next 10 years. However, job prospects should be best for travel agents who specialize in specific destinations or particular types of travelers. In 2019, the median salary was $40,660 per year, compared to the median annual wage for all workers which was $39,810.


title: Travel agency

text: Several reports show that the number of people using travel agents to book travel has been increasing.


title: East African Community

text: The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of seven countries in the Great Lakes region of East Africa: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republics of Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Uganda. Évariste Ndayishimiye, the president of Burundi, is the current EAC chairman. The organisation was founded in 1967, collapsed in 1977, and was revived on 7 July 2000.


title: East African Community

text: In 2008, after negotiations with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the EAC agreed to an expanded free trade area including the member states of all three organizations. The EAC is an integral part of the African Economic Community.


title: East African Community

text: The EAC is a potential precursor to the establishment of the East African Federation, a proposed federation of its members into a single sovereign state. In 2010, the EAC launched its own common market for goods, labour, and capital within the region, with the goal of creating a common currency and eventually a full political federation. In 2013, a protocol was signed outlining their plans for launching a monetary union within 10 years. In September 2018 a committee was formed to begin the process of drafting a regional constitution.


title: East African Community

text: Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda have cooperated with each other since the early 20th century. The East African Currency Board provided a common currency from 1919 to 1966. The customs union between Kenya and Uganda in 1917, which Tanganyika joined in 1927, was followed by the East African High Commission (EAHC) from 1948 to 1961, the East African Common Services Organization (EACSO) from 1961 to 1967, and the EAC from 1967 to 1977. Burundi and Rwanda joined the EAC on 6 July 2009.


title: East African Community

text: Inter-territorial co-operation between the Kenya Colony, the Uganda Protectorate, and the Tanganyika Territory was formalised in 1948 by the EAHC. This provided a customs union, a common external tariff, currency, and postage. It also dealt with common services in transport and communications, research, and education. Following independence, these integrated activities were reconstituted and the EAHC was replaced by the EACSO, which many observers thought would lead to a political federation between the three territories. The new organisation ran into difficulties because of the lack of joint planning and fiscal policy, separate political policies, and Kenya's dominant economic position. In 1967, the EACSO was superseded by the EAC. This body aimed to strengthen the ties between the members through a common market, a common customs tariff, and a range of public services to achieve balanced economic growth within the region.


title: East African Community

text: In 1977, the EAC collapsed. The causes of the collapse included demands by Kenya for more seats than Uganda and Tanzania in decision-making organs, disagreements with Ugandan dictator Idi Amin who demanded that Tanzania as a member state of the EAC should not harbour forces fighting to topple the government of another member state, and the disparate economic systems of socialism in Tanzania and capitalism in Kenya. The three member states lost over sixty years of co-operation and the benefits of economies of scale, although some Kenyan government officials celebrated the collapse with champagne.


title: East African Community

text: Presidents Daniel arap Moi of Kenya, Ali Hassan Mwinyi of Tanzania, and Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda signed the Treaty for East African Co-operation in Kampala on 1993 and established a Tri-partite Commission for Co-operation. A process of re-integration was embarked on involving tripartite programmes of co-operation in political, economic, social and cultural fields, research and technology, defence, security, and legal and judicial affairs.


title: East African Community

text: The EAC was revived on 30 November 1999, when the treaty for its re-establishment was signed. It came into force on 7 July 2000, 23 years after the collapse of the previous community and its organs. A customs union was signed in March 2004, which commenced on 1 January 2005. Kenya, the region's largest exporter, continued to pay duties on goods entering the other four countries on a declining scale until 2010. A common system of tariffs will apply to goods imported from third-party countries. On 30 November 2016 it was declared that the immediate aim would be confederation rather than federation.


title: East African Community

text: The presidents of Kenya and Rwanda invited the Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan to apply for membership upon the independence of South Sudan in 2011, and South Sudan was reportedly an applicant country as of mid-July 2011. Analysts suggested that South Sudan's early efforts to integrate infrastructure, including rail links and oil pipelines, with systems in Kenya and Uganda indicated intention on the part of Juba to pivot away from dependence on Sudan and toward the EAC. Reuters considers South Sudan the likeliest candidate for EAC expansion in the short term, and an article in Tanzanian daily "The Citizen" that reported East African Legislative Assembly Speaker Abdirahin Haithar Abdi said South Sudan was "free to join the EAC" asserted that analysts believe the country will soon become a full member of the regional body.


title: East African Community

text: On 17 September 2011, the "Daily Nation" quoted a South Sudanese MP as saying that while his government was eager to join the EAC, it would likely delay its membership over concerns that its economy was not sufficiently developed to compete with EAC member states and could become a "dumping ground" for Kenyan, Tanzanian, and Ugandan exports. This was contradicted by President Salva Kiir, who announced South Sudan had begun the application process one month later. The application was deferred by the EAC in December 2012, however incidents with Ugandan boda-boda operators in South Sudan have created political tension and may delay the process.


title: East African Community

text: In December 2012, Tanzania agreed to South Sudan's bid to join the EAC, clearing the way for the world's newest state to become the regional bloc's sixth member. In May 2013 the EAC set aside US$82,000 for the admission of South Sudan into the bloc even though admission may not happen until 2016. The process, to start after the EAC Council of Ministers meeting in August 2013, was projected to take at least four years. At the 14th Ordinary Summit held in Nairobi in 2012, EAC heads of state approved the verification report that was presented by the Council of Ministers, then directed it to start the negotiation process with South Sudan.


title: East African Community

text: A team was formed to assess South Sudan's bid; however, in April 2014, the nation requested a delay in the admissions process, presumably due to ongoing internal conflict.


title: East African Community

text: South Sudan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, claimed publicly in October 2015 that, following evaluations and meetings of a special technical committee in May, June, August, September and October, the committee has recommended that South Sudan be allowed to join the East African Community. Those recommendations, however, had not been released to the public. It was reported that South Sudan could be admitted as early as November 2015 when the heads of East African States had their summit meeting.


title: East African Community

text: South Sudan was eventually approved for membership to the bloc in March 2016, and signed a treaty of accession in April 2016. It had six months to ratify the agreement, which it did on 5 September, at which point it formally acceded to the community. It does not yet participate to the same extent as the other members.


title: East African Community

text: In 2010, Tanzanian officials expressed interest in inviting the Democratic Republic of the Congo to join the East African Community. The DRC applied for admission to the EAC in June 2019. In June 2021, the EAC Summit launched a verification mission to assess the suitability of the DRC for admission to the Community, and has since drafted a report on their findings which is ready for submission to the EAC Council of Ministers. On 23 November 2021: Ministers in charge of East African Community (EAC) Affairs have recommended for consideration by the EAC Heads of States the report of the verification team on the application by The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to join the Community. In February 2022, the EAC Council of Ministers recommended that the DRC be admitted as a new member state of the EAC. On 18 March 2022, the EAC Secretary-General Dr Peter Mathuki confirmed that the Heads of State would approve the admission on 29 March 2022. The Democratic Republic of the Congo was admitted as a member of the EAC on 29 March 2022, at a virtual Head of State summit chaired by Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, and officially become a member of the East African Community on 11 July 2022 after depositing the instrument of ratification with the EAC Secretary General at the bloc’s headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.


title: East African Community

text: The geographical region encompassed by the EAC covers an area of , with a combined population of about 281,050,447.


title: East African Community

text: In 2019, President Lourenço mediated the re-opening of the borders and ending hostilities between EAC neighbours Rwanda and Uganda. Historically, Angola has been closely involved politically with the DRC with a focus on peace and stability in the DRC. Angola is currently leading the Luanda process for stability in the eastern DRC under the ICGLR with EAC Partner States – Uganda and Rwanda.


title: East African Community

text: EAC partner states Burundi, DR Congo, Rwanda, and Tanzania have been involved in peace keeping missions in the Central African Republic. President Touadera has applauded Rwanda's support in securing peace in the country. With DRC in the EAC, and infrastructure developments from Pointe-Noire in the Republic of Congo to Bangui, as well as inclusion of the country into the LAPSSET project from Lamu-Juba-Bangui-Douala, this could see the mineral and resource rich country realize economic benefits.


title: East African Community

text: The Republic of Congo enjoys strong historical political, economic and cultural ties with DR Congo. The Republic of Congo is involved, under the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), in the peace and stability efforts in eastern DR Congo together with Angola. Rwandan and Ugandan leaders have been meeting in Luanda with President Sassou Nguesso to support these peace efforts.


title: East African Community

text: Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta proposed expanding the EAC to include Central, Northern, and Southern African states, such as Ethiopia. The potential joining of Ethiopia into the EAC would bring the population to approximately 420 million. Speaking at the opening of the One Stop Border post in Moyale in 2020, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia affirmed his commitment to regional integration saying that the east African people are one people and economic integration is a key goal for the region to achieve so as to unlock its potential. With other horn of Africa countries like Somalia joining the EAC and the opening up of the Ethiopia's sectors such as banking and telecommunications to the private sector, being part of the EAC could soon become a priority to accelerate economic gains.


title: East African Community

text: In 2010, Tanzanian officials expressed interest in inviting Malawi to join the EAC. Malawian Foreign Affairs Minister Etta Banda said, however, that there were no formal negotiations taking place concerning Malawian membership.


title: East African Community

text: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in May 2022, hinted at the possibility of deploying an East African regional force to Mozambique to counter insurgency in the Northern Provinces. Rwanda, at the request of Mozambique, in July 2021 had sent a strong contingent to Cabo Delgabo. Mozambique shares cultural and historical ties with EAC Partner States. There is a significant Kiswahili speaking population in the country.


title: East African Community

text: Representatives of Somalia applied for membership in the EAC in March 2012. The application was considered by the EAC Heads of State in December 2012, which requested that the EAC Council work with Somalia to verify their application. In February 2015, the EAC again deliberated on the matter but deferred a decision as verification had not yet started nor had preparations with the government of Somalia been finalized. During the 22nd Ordinary EAC Heads of State Summit on 22 July 2022, the EAC Heads of State, noted that the verification process for Somalia to join the community needs to be completed expeditiously. Somalia adds to the EAC, a 3,333 km coastline, a population of about 16 million people, entrepreneurial capital and culture, fisheries, livestock, energy and natural resources. As members of the Community, the country would receive support to deal with internal security matters.


title: East African Community

text: The Sudan applied to join the EAC in 2011, but its membership is strongly opposed by Tanzania and Uganda. They contended that because of the Sudan's lack of a direct border with the EAC at the time, its allegedly discriminatory actions toward black Africans, its record of human rights violations, and its history of hostilities with both South Sudan and Uganda, it was ineligible to join. The Sudan's application was rejected by the EAC in December 2011.


title: East African Community

text: In 2010, Tanzanian officials expressed interest in inviting Zambia to join the EAC. In the 1960s Zambia had applied to join the EAC. During a state visit to Kenya on 15 June 2022, President Hichilema of Zambia mentioned to the EAC Chairman President Kenyatta, that Zambia is interested in joining an East African Consortium for negotiating trade agreements in oil and agricultural sectors.


title: East African Community

text: It has been argued, however, that the commonalities go far deeper. Many of the national elites old enough to remember the former EAC often share memories and a sharp sense of loss at its eventual dissolution. More cynically, others have argued that this historical ambition provides politicians with the ability to present themselves as statesmen and representatives of a greater regional interest. Furthermore, EAC institutions bring significant new powers to dispose and depose to those who serve in them.


title: East African Community

text: Some have questioned the extent to which the visions of a political union are shared outside the elite and the relatively elderly, arguing that the youthful mass of the population is not well informed about the process in any of the countries. Others have pointed to an enhanced sense of East African identity developing from modern communications. For these, the shared vision for a politically united East Africa is commendable and a potential driver for change. Commitment to the formal EAC idea is relatively narrow, in both social and generational terms, and thus many have questioned the timetable for the project. Fast-tracking political union was first discussed in 2004 and enjoyed a consensus among the three presidents of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Thus, a high-level committee headed by Amos Wako of Kenya was commissioned to investigate the possibility of speeding integration so as to achieve political federation sooner than previously visualised. Yet, there have been concerns that rapid changes would allow popular reactionary politics against the project. There has been an argument, however, that there are high costs that would be required at the beginning and that fast-tracking the project would allow the benefits to be seen earlier.


title: East African Community

text: There remain significant political differences between the states. Museveni's success in obtaining his third-term amendment raised doubts in the other countries. The single-party dominance in the Tanzanian and Ugandan parliaments is unattractive to Kenyans, while Kenya's ethnic-politics remains absent in Tanzania. Rwanda has a distinctive political culture with a political elite committed to building a developmental state.


title: East African Community

text: Other problems involve states being reluctant to relinquish involvement in other regional groups, e.g., Tanzania's withdrawal from COMESA but staying within the SADC bloc for the Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations with the European Union. Many Tanzanians are also concerned because creating a common market means removing obstacles to the free movement of labour and capital. Free movement of labour may be perceived as highly desirable in Uganda and Kenya, and have important developmental benefits in Tanzania; however, in Tanzania there is widespread resistance to the idea of ceding land rights to foreigners, including citizens of Kenya and Uganda.


title: East African Community

text: Informal polls have indicated that most Tanzanians (80 percent) have an unfavourable view of the East African Federation. Tanzania has more land than all the other EAC nations combined (at least until the accession of South Sudan), and some Tanzanians fear landgrabs by the current residents of the other EAC member nations.


title: East African Community

text: The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) is the legislative arm of the community. The EALA has 27 members who are all elected by the National Assemblies or Parliaments of the member states of the community. The EALA has oversight functions on all matters that fall within the community's work and its functions include debating and approving the budget of the community, discussing all matters pertaining to the community and making recommendations to the council as it may deem necessary for the implementation of the treaty, liaising with National Assemblies or Parliaments on matters pertaining to the community and establishing committees for such purposes as it deems necessary. Since being inaugurated in 2001, the EALA has had several sittings as a plenum in Arusha, Kampala, and Nairobi.


title: East African Community

text: The Speaker of the Assembly is Dan Kidega from Uganda who replaced Margaret Zziwa also from Uganda, after being impeached; she had succeeded Abdirahin Haithar H. Abdi from Kenya. The assembly has been credited with crucial bills, particularly those regarding regional and international trade, including EAC's stand on issues such as the World Trade Organization and transport on Lake Victoria.


title: East African Community

text: Different rates are applied for raw materials (0%), intermediate products (10%) and finished goods (25%), the latter percentage is fixed as the maximum. This represents a significance decrease from what was previously the maximum in Kenya (35%), Tanzania (40%) and Uganda (15%). However, this customs union is not yet fully implemented, because there is a significant list of exclusions to the Common External Tariff and tariff-free movement of goods and services. Technical work is also needed to harmonise and modernise the customs procedures in the EAC's major ports of entry.


title: East African Community

text: The expected revenue benefits are understood to be minimal by many analysts, based on comparative-static simulation exercises demonstrating the one-off impacts of the immediate introduction of the CU's full tariff package. The findings suggest an increase in intraregional trade that is largely the result of trade diversion, not trade creation, with some aggregate welfare benefits in Kenya and Tanzania but welfare losses in Uganda. From a trade-integration perspective, the EAC may not be the best chosen unit, because the current trade between the three countries is small compared to their external trade, and the EAC's citizens do not represent a large market in global terms, given the very low average incomes.


title: East African Community

text: Business leaders are far more positive than economists about the benefits of EAC integration, its customs union as a step in the process, as well as the wider integration under COMESA. The larger economic players perceive long-term benefits in a progressively expanding regional market. Patterns of regional development are already emerging, including:


title: East African Community

text: The EAC negotiates with trade partners on behalf of all member countries. Negotiations in 2014 for an EU-EAC Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) ran into difficulties with the January 2014 negotiating session failing to conclude the negotiations, which were scheduled to be completed before 1 October 2014. This caused tensions between Kenya and other countries as Kenya, which is not a Least Developed Country, stood to lose most from the failure to reach agreement. Discussions are also under way between the EAC and the USA on the launch of Trade and Investment Partnership (TIP) negotiations.


title: East African Community

text: EAC that have economies have large informal sectors, unintegrated with the formal economy and large business. The concerns of large-scale manufacturing and agro-processing concerns are not broadly shared by the bulk of available labour. Research suggest the promised investments on the conditions of life of the region's overwhelmingly rural poor will be slight, with the significant exception of agro-industrial firms with out-grower schemes or that otherwise contribute to the co-ordination of smallholder production and trade.


title: East African Community

text: It is informal trade across borders that is most often important to rural livelihoods and a customs union is unlikely to significantly impact the barriers that this faces and taxes are still being fixed separately by countries. However, the introduction of one-stop border posts being introduced and the reduction in tariff barriers are coming down progressively.


title: East African Community

text: The establishment of a common market will create both winners (numerous food producers and consumers on both sides of all borders) and losers (smugglers and the customs, police and local government officers who currently benefit from bribery at and around the borders) in the border areas. More substantial impact could be attained by a new generation of investments in world-market production based on the region's comparative advantages in natural resources (especially mining and agriculture) and the new tariff structure creates marginally better conditions for world-market exporters, by cheapening inputs and by reducing upward pressures on the exchange rate.


title: East African Community

text: On 1 July 2010, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki launched the East African Common Market Protocol, an expansion of the bloc's existing customs union that entered into effect in 2005. The protocol will lead to the free movement of labour, capital, goods and services within the EAC. Member states will have to change their national laws to allow the full implementation of some aspects of the Common Market such as immigration and customs. This legislation may take up to five years for each of the countries to enact fully but official recognition of the common market took place on . Kenya expects that its citizens will begin to enjoy freedom of movement in the EAC within two months. Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi have already agreed to waive work permit fees for EAC citizens. The Common Market is seen as a step towards the implementation of a common currency by 2024 and full political federation afterwards. Kenyan businesses complain that the benefits of the Common Market only exist on paper by 2011, and that all the work remains to be done. Arbitrary rules and delays continue to make trade between Kenya and Tanzania expensive and difficult.


title: East African Community

text: The free movement of people in the EAC is set to be improved with the introduction of "third generation" ID cards. These cards will identify the holder as a dual citizen of their home country and of "East Africa". Third generation cards are already in use in Rwanda with Kenya set to introduce them in July 2010 and the other countries following afterwards. Mutual recognition and accreditation of higher education institutions is also being worked towards as is the harmonisation of social security benefits across the EAC.


title: East African Community

text: Mombasa has the East African Community's busiest port. However, the construction of a new port in Kenya, known as the Lamu Port is underway. It is expected to cost US$22 billion, which will make it the biggest port in all of Africa. Upon completion the Bagamoyo port under construction in Tanzania will be the second largest port in Africa, with a capacity to handle 18.9 million cargo containers a year.


title: East African Community

text: Many of the EAC's largest firms are headquartered in Nairobi, including Kenya Airways, the Nation Media Group, and the Kenya Commercial Bank Group. The multinational firms with their regional headquarters in Nairobi include Google, Coca-Cola, and Toyota. The city is also home to the Nairobi Securities Exchange. According to a 2007 published report, it is Africa's fourth largest in terms of trading volumes and fifth largest in terms of market capitalization as a percentage of gross domestic product.


title: East African Community

text: The new treaty was proposed with plans drawn up in 2004 to introduce a monetary union with a common currency, the East African shilling, some time between 2012 and 2015. There were also plans for a political union, the East African Federation, with a common President (initially on a rotation basis) and a common parliament by 2010. However, some experts like those based in the public think tank Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), noted that the plans were too ambitious to be met by 2010 because a number of political, social and economic challenges are yet to be addressed. The proposal was the subject of National Consultative discussions, and a final decision was to be taken by the EAC Heads of State in mid-2007. In 2013, a protocol was signed outlining their plans for launching a monetary union within 10 years.


title: East African Community

text: It had been hoped that an East African Single Tourist Visa may have been ready for November 2006, if it was approved by the relevant sectoral authorities under the EAC's integration programme. Had it been approved, the visa would have been valid for all three current member states of the EAC (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda). Under the proposal for the visa, any new EAC single visa could be issued by any member state's embassy. The visa proposal followed an appeal by the tourist boards of the partner states for a common visa to accelerate promotion of the region as a single tourist destination and the EAC Secretariat wanted it approved before November's World Travel Fair (or World Travel Market) in London. When approved by the EAC's council of ministers, tourists could apply for one country's entry visa which would then be applicable in all regional member states as a single entry requirement initiative.


title: East African Community

text: A single East African Tourist Visa for the EAC countries of Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda has been available since 2014.


title: East African Community

text: As of March 2022, the combined population of all seven EAC member states was 312,362,653. The EAC would have the fourth largest population in the world, if considered a single entity.


title: East African Community

text: The EAC contains 14 cities with populations of over one million (half of which are in Democratic Republic of the Congo alone), the largest being Kinshasa. Kampala is the largest urban centre located on Lake Victoria, the second largest freshwater lake in the world and Mwanza coming in second and Kisumu third.


title: East African Community

text: Kiswahili, English and French are designated as the official languages of the EAC, with Swahili designated for development as the lingua franca of the community. Within the EAC, there are three countries whose official language is French: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. Numerous local languages are also spoken: for example, there are 56 local languages spoken in Uganda, 125 in Tanzania, 72 in South Sudan and 67 local languages in Kenya. Kinyarwanda is spoken in Rwanda and Uganda. There are over 200 local languages spoken in the DRC. Lingala is widely spoken in the western Democratic Republic of Congo, with about 15 million speakers and Kiswahili with 23 million speakers across the country.


title: East African Community

text: The East African passport was launched on 1999. The East African passport has been introduced as a travel document to ease border crossing for EAC residents. It is valid for travel within the EAC countries only and will entitle the holder to a multi-entry stay of renewable six months' validity in any of the countries. The passport is issued in three of the seven EAC member states (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania). The passports are available at the headquarters of the respective Immigration Departments in Nairobi, Kampala and Dar es Salaam. Only East African nationals may apply to be issued with the passports. The passport costs US$10 or the equivalent in EAC currencies. Processing of applications for the passports will normally take two to three weeks. Although the passport is only valid within the EAC, modalities of internationalising the East African passport were being discussed with the aim towards having a common travel document for EAC residents by 2006.


title: East African Community

text: Other measures meant to ease border crossing for East African Community residents include the issuance of interstate passes (which commenced on 2003), a single immigration Departure/Entry card (adopted by all three member states), the finalisation of harmonised procedures of work permits and the classification process, and the compilation of studies on the Harmonization of Labour Laws and Employment Policies (now in its final stages).


title: Stephanie Allynne

text: Stephanie Allynne is an American actress, writer, and comedian. She is best known for her roles in "In a World..." (2013), "Dream Corp, LLC" (2016), "One Mississippi" (2016–17), and "" (2019–present).


title: Stephanie Allynne

text: Allynne moved from southern California to Buffalo, New York, for some of her youth. She headed to Los Angeles at the age of 18 and joined the Upright Citizens Brigade. She performs regularly with ASSSSCAT, Wild Horses, and Last Day of School: The Text Message show. Allynne started making numerous appearances on television including "The League", "The Mindy Project", "Happy Endings", "2 Broke Girls", "Kroll Show", and "Key & Peele". Allynne wrote and co-starred in "One Mississippi" with her wife Tig Notaro. The show was a loose autobiography about their lives. Allynne is developing an hour drama for HBO and is co-writing and producing the feature "First Ladies" for Netflix, starring Jennifer Aniston and Notaro.


title: Stephanie Allynne

text: Allynne married comedian Tig Notaro on October 24, 2015. According to Allynne, before her relationship with Notaro she had never dated women, saying, "I was so into Tig and I was falling in love with her and I didn't know how to identify it because I thought I was straight." In June 2016, their twin sons were born via surrogate.


title: Children of Bodom

text: Children of Bodom was a Finnish melodic death metal band from Espoo. Formed in 1993 as Inearthed, the final line-up of the group upon their split in 2019 consisted of Alexi Laiho (lead guitar, lead vocals), Jaska Raatikainen (drums), Henkka Seppälä (bass), Janne Wirman (keyboard), and Daniel Freyberg (rhythm guitar). The band released ten studio albums, two live albums, two EPs, two compilation albums and one DVD.


title: Children of Bodom

text: The band's third studio album, "Follow the Reaper", was their first album to receive a gold certification in Finland, and subsequent studio albums acquired the same status. Their next four albums debuted at number one on the Finnish album charts, and have also seen chart positions on the United States "Billboard" 200. They are one of Finland's best selling artists of all time with more than 250,000 records sold there alone.


title: Children of Bodom

text: In 2019, Children of Bodom held their last concert in Helsinki named A Chapter Called Children of Bodom, before disbanding the band. Laiho and Freyberg carried on as Bodom After Midnight in 2020. Laiho, who was one of the founding members of Children of Bodom as well as the only main songwriter, died on 29 December 2020.


title: Children of Bodom

text: Children of Bodom was formed in 1993 by guitarist Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho and drummer Jaska Raatikainen under the name of Inearthed. They had known each other since early childhood and had shared an interest in heavy metal, especially death metal groups, such as Dissection, Entombed, Cannibal Corpse, Autopsy, and Obituary and classic metal groups such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Dio, and Ozzy Osbourne. Bassist Samuli Miettinen completed the initial line-up of the band. Inearthed recorded its first demo, "Implosion of Heaven", during August of the same year.


title: Children of Bodom

text: Samuli was the main composer of the band's lyrics for the two years that he took part in Inearthed, but his family moved to the United States in 1995, making it impossible for him to remain in the band. His last contributions to Inearthed were the lyrics of the songs from their second demo, "Ubiquitous Absence of Remission" which was the first time they worked with producer Anssi Kippo at Astia-studios (Lappeenranta, Finland). In this demo, keyboards were incorporated into the band's songs for the first time. In order to achieve this, both Laiho and Raatikainen played the keyboards separately and subsequently mixed the recorded track with the other instruments. Laiho, who had previously only composed the melodies of the songs, assumed the role of the band's lyricist.


title: Children of Bodom

text: At the time, Raatikainen played French horn in a local big band, and during a rehearsal, he met Alexander Kuoppala, a trumpet player and also a proficient guitarist. Shortly after the recording of their second demo, Kuoppala was invited to join Inearthed as a rhythm guitarist.


title: Children of Bodom

text: The bassist chosen to replace Samuli was Henkka "Blacksmith" Seppälä, whom Laiho and Raatikainen had previously known from school. Apart from playing the bass, Seppälä also often doubles as the band's backing vocalist. Also, the band recruited a musician to specialize on keyboards, whose name was Jani Pirisjoki. Both joined Inearthed in early 1996.


title: Children of Bodom

text: With this new line-up, Inearthed proceeded to record their third demo, titled "Shining". This demo did not impress record labels any more than the previous ones had, and none took interest in the band. Despite their efforts, their music got little exposure and managed only to play at local events. As a last resort, the band decided to record an independent, self-funded album.


title: Children of Bodom

text: Laiho wanted to make use of the keyboards more effectively, but Pirisjoki was not attending rehearsals. Thus, he was fired and replaced by a friend of Raatikainen's, a jazz pianist named Janne "Warman" Wirman.


title: Children of Bodom

text: Wirman was the component which was previously missing from Inearthed. His presence allowed the band to assume the style which would later characterize Children of Bodom. With Wirman, the band successfully recorded their first album in 1997. Their debut, "Something Wild", was supposed to be released by a small Belgian label, Shiver Records, but second vocalist Sami Tenetz (from Thy Serpent) acquired a copy of their album through the hands of Kuoppala. They both worked for the same company at the time. Shortly after Inearthed signed this contract, Spinefarm Records' boss became interested in signing them for a country-wide release. The latter deal was much more attractive to the band since the Belgian label was offering them close to no help, to the point where they would have to distribute and sell the album themselves.


title: Children of Bodom

text: The band was required to create a new name to sign up to Spinefarm Records. The contract with Shiver records had already been signed under the name of Inearthed. The answer to that problem came as the members looked for good names in their local phone book. When they stumbled upon Lake Bodom, they realized that it was a name with impact and one which had an interesting story behind it. A long list of possible names involving the word Bodom was then made, and they settled with Children of Bodom. The band's name is derived from the Lake Bodom murders.


title: Children of Bodom

text: "Something Wild" was produced, recorded and mixed by Anssi Kippo and Children of Bodom at Astia-studios (Lappeenranta, Finland). In an attempt to promote their band, they opened a show for Dimmu Borgir in 1997. Their success was such that a representative from the Nuclear Blast label approached them with a contract for a European release, a deal which started on the subsequent year. "Something Wild" was released in late 1997 in Finland and in 1998 worldwide. In early 1998, for promotional purposes, the band recorded a music video of the song "Deadnight Warrior". The video was directed by Mika Lindberg and had a slim budget of €1000. It made use of simple scenery, which consisted essentially of an outdoors location after a snowstorm. The band played for a couple of hours at night, with an average temperature of minus fifteen degrees Celsius.


title: Children of Bodom

text: Although Laiho is very critical of all of the music he has written, he notes that he dislikes "Something Wild" the most of all of his albums. When recording this album, Laiho had tried to mimic the style of one of his idols, Yngwie Malmsteen, which is why "Something Wild" is considered one of the most technical albums Children of Bodom have produced. Despite this, he still considers it to be their "most important" record, as it "put them on the map."


title: Children of Bodom

text: Children of Bodom's first European tour began in February 1998. They played with bands such as Hypocrisy (at such festivals as Under the Black Sun), The Kovenant and Agathodaimon, but suffered from the absence of Wirman, who was concentrating on finishing his studies. He was replaced by pianist Erna Siikavirta for the duration of the tour.


title: Children of Bodom

text: Months later, the band recorded two new songs again at Astia-studios with producer Anssi Kippo, titled "Towards Dead End" and "Children of Bodom". The latter was included in a compilation by Spinefarm Records, which after being released remained on the top of Finnish charts for eight consecutive weeks. In late August, the band played the song "Forevermore" live for the first time during a show in Russia. This song was later renamed "Downfall".


title: Children of Bodom

text: Their second European tour occurred in September of that same year, but once more Wirman was not able to perform with them. Laiho's then-girlfriend Kimberly Goss (from Sinergy and formerly of Dimmu Borgir, Ancient and Therion) assumed the keyboards this time. By the end of the tour, Kimberly invited Laiho to join Sinergy, which at the time was still in its early stages.


title: Children of Bodom

text: The second album, "Hatebreeder", was recorded between the end of 1998 and the beginning of 1999 by Anssi Kippo at Astia-studios (Lappeenranta, Finland). It was originally titled "Towards Dead End", but while in studio the members of the band opted for the current title. To create anticipation in Finland, the '"Downfall" single was released two weeks prior to the album's release. It was accompanied by a new music video, once more directed by Mika Lindberg. "Hatebreeder" ultimately topped the charts in many European countries. In July 1999, the success of the "Downfall" single and "Hatebreeder" allowed Children of Bodom to schedule three concerts in Japan with Sinergy and In Flames. During two of these concerts, the live album "Tokyo Warhearts" was recorded. In it the band managed to seamlessly reproduce and at times improve on their songs. At their request, no overdubs were used on the recording of the concert.


title: Children of Bodom

text: For their next release, Children of Bodom decided to make use of Peter Tägtgren's Abyss studio in Sweden instead of the Finnish Astia-studio from Anssi Kippo where they had recorded all of their previous releases including the demos from Inearthed. The band wrote eight songs for the album. While in the studio, they decided to include an extra track that was hastily composed and featured lyrics improvised by Laiho; that track would eventually receive the name of "Kissing the Shadows". The band gave the album the name of "Follow the Reaper" and recording sessions took place between August and September 2000; the album saw a worldwide release in late 2000. A music video for "Everytime I Die" was recorded by the Finnish director Tuukka Temonen shortly after.


title: Children of Bodom

text: In February 2002, Children of Bodom began writing songs for their upcoming album, titled "Hate Crew Deathroll". They returned to Astia-studio (Lappeenranta, Finland) to work with producer Anssi Kippo again. The session ensued during the months of August and September, and the album was released January 2003 in Finland. It remained on the top of the Finnish charts for a total of three weeks and subsequently became the band's first gold album. Eventually, all of the band's albums reached this status and "Follow the Reaper" reached platinum.


title: Children of Bodom

text: On 3 January 2003, the Finnish Metal Music Awards were held at Tavastia Club in Helsinki. Voting was open to all the metal fans and was presented through the various media outlets that were working with the event's organizers. Children of Bodom was awarded Finnish Band of the Year.


title: Children of Bodom

text: Children of Bodom's first world tour began in 2003 and lasted until late 2004. The tour had many sold-out concerts and marked the consolidation of the band in North America, but was also accompanied by an unexpected announcement: Kuoppala decided to quit Children of Bodom for personal reasons right in the middle of the tour without giving previous warning. In an interview, when Laiho was asked why Kuoppala left the band, he stated that "Well, I try to be careful about what I say about him because there is no bad blood between us. He told me that he just got sick of touring and the whole band/rock 'n roll lifestyle living in hotels and tour buses and stuff. For me it was really weird because he was always the one who was SO into it! He was a die hard rock 'n roller and suddenly he made a quick 180 turn in his whole life. This whole situation involves a new girlfriend." Griffin's guitarist Kai Nergaard was invited by Laiho to replace Kuoppala, but did not accept the offer. Thus, Alexi's bandmate from Sinergy, Roope Latvala (founding member of Stone, one of the bands which started the heavy metal movement in Finland) assumed the guitars as a session player, until a more permanent solution could be found. This formation was introduced in Moscow on 16 August.


title: Children of Bodom

text: After finishing the world tour with Latvala – who then assumed a permanent position in the band's line-up – Children of Bodom proceeded to record and release the EP "Trashed, Lost & Strungout" and the single "In Your Face", which contained songs from their upcoming album and a parody cover of "Oops!... I Did It Again" by Britney Spears. In late 2005, the album "Are You Dead Yet?" was released, featuring a style different from what had been presented by the band on its previous works. Simpler and heavier guitar riffs were incorporated into Children of Bodom's sound, as well as elements from industrial music. Reactions from fans to the release were varied; however, the album remains the band's most commercially successful. It was awarded gold status in Finland and reached first place on the Finnish charts, 16th in Germany, 16 in Sweden and 17 in Japan. The next release of the band was a DVD-single for the song "In Your Face", which included the music video, backstage footage from the band and a live recording of the song "Sixpounder" at Wacken Open Air festival in 2004. In June, Children of Bodom was in front of 120,000 spectators, one of their biggest concerts, on the last concert of the Böhse Onkelz. The DVD of the concert, called Vaya Con Tioz, includes Children of Bodom's performance of "Everytime I Die".


title: Children of Bodom

text: Children of Bodom's live DVD "Chaos Ridden Years - Stockholm Knockout Live" was released on 5 December 2006. It contains a recording of a live concert performed on 5 February 2006 in Stockholm, Sweden, with over 90 minutes of live footage. "Chaos Ridden Years" refers to a documentary featuring interviews with band members about the history of the band and footage of the band on tour. It also contains every music video Children of Bodom has made, except for "Needled 24/7". Guitarist Alexi Laiho was voted world's best guitarist of 2006 by Metal Hammer magazine.


title: Children of Bodom

text: In June 2006, the band embarked on one of their biggest tours: The Unholy Alliance tour, playing alongside Slayer, Lamb of God, Mastodon, In Flames and Thine Eyes Bleed. The bands toured the US through June and July, and Europe through October and November.


title: Children of Bodom

text: On 31 January 2007, Laiho slid down the lane at a bowling alley after accidentally stepping over the foul line. He slammed hard into the wall, breaking his left shoulder. This rendered him unable to play guitar for six weeks. Due to this incident, Children of Bodom was forced to cancel their first 2007 tours, and a festival that they were slated to headline.


title: Children of Bodom

text: On 31 March 2007, the band's website released information on Laiho's condition stating that while Laiho's injury will never fully heal, it no longer affects his ability to play the guitar. The same notice also stated that the band had already written some songs for a new album and would start recording sometime later in 2007.


title: Children of Bodom

text: From October to December 2007, Children of Bodom recorded their sixth studio album, titled "Blooddrunk", which was released on 15 April 2008.


title: Children of Bodom

text: Children of Bodom was featured on the Gigantour 2008 North American tour with Megadeth, In Flames, Job for a Cowboy and High on Fire. Children of Bodom was one of the first bands to be confirmed for Wacken Open Air 2008, where they performed alongside many bands including Iron Maiden, Sonata Arctica and Avantasia. Children of Bodom played at Donington Download on 15 June, playing a mixture of old and new songs. On 8 March 2008, Children of Bodom did their first UK signing event at the Zavvi music shop in Oxford Street, London. They signed copies of their new single "Blooddrunk" in CD, 7 inch and 12 inch vinyls, only 666 copies of the 12 inch vinyls have been made.


title: Children of Bodom

text: On 26 June 2008, Children of Bodom played their first show in Auckland, New Zealand with support from local scene acts Dawn of Azazel and Subtract at the Transmission Room. In 2008, Children of Bodom's first three studio albums, as well as "Tokyo Warhearts", were remastered and re-released with bonus tracks. In September and October 2008, the band toured the U.S. supporting "Blooddrunk" with support from The Black Dahlia Murder and Between the Buried and Me. Testament also made a special guest appearance in the main support slot at the tour's New York City date. In November and December 2008, the band toured in Europe supporting Slipknot and Machine Head. From late January to early March 2009, the band also co-headlined the European tour with Cannibal Corpse with Diablo opening for them. On 2 April 2009, Children of Bodom embarked on the No Fear Energy Tour headlined by Lamb of God with main support from As I Lay Dying and themselves, and rotating opening slots with God Forbid and Municipal Waste, but dropped off the tour a week before it was finished following a serious injury Alexi sustained after falling from the top bunk of his tour bus on 26 April 2009, after the show in Palladium Ballroom, Dallas, Texas. In addition to the injury, on 8 May 2009, at Roseland Ballroom in New York City, Alexi and Children of Bodom were forced to quit playing after a few of their songs because of Alexi's previous injury. Laiho originally planned to continue touring despite his injury but was forced to cancel last six dates when any efforts to alleviate the pain failed. All summer festival dates went down as planned and were unaffected by Alexi's injury.


title: Children of Bodom

text: In February 2009, Children of Bodom hinted at plans to release a cover album titled "Skeletons in the Closet", which was released on 23 September 2009. They also admitted to being "lazy" when it comes to practicing and talked about plans to have more songs on future albums. The band embarked on a tour of South America and Mexico in September 2009. Support for the trek came from Amorphis. Also in September and October 2009, the band returned to North America to headline a massive month-long tour. On most dates support on the trek came from The Black Dahlia Murder and Skeletonwitch. Austrian Death Machine and Holy Grail made a special guest appearance in the main support slot at the tour's second Pomona, California date. On October 18, 2009, four days after the band's North American tour finale in Honolulu, Hawaii they performed at Japan's Loudpark Festival along with Megadeth, Judas Priest, Slayer, Anthrax, Rob Zombie and Arch Enemy. In the six days following their performance at the Loudpark Festival, they held three shows in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China respectively. They finished their two-month September to October tour in Moscow, Russia. This concluded their year and a half long Blooddrunk World Tour.


title: Children of Bodom

text: "Skeletons in the Closet" is a cover album released on 22 September 2009. It features covers released on versions of previous albums but also includes four new tracks. Covered artists include Suicidal Tendencies, Britney Spears, Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Andrew WK, Billy Idol and Scorpions


title: Children of Bodom

text: Children of Bodom featured a contest to promote their new album in which anyone could win prizes featuring an ESP/LTD M-53 electric guitar, the band's entire back catalog, and "Skeletons in the Closet." The contest ran from 25 August to 21 September 2009. The winners were announced 28 September 2009.


title: Children of Bodom

text: After the "Blooddrunk" tour ended, Children of Bodom started recording their new album. During the recording of the drum tracks there was a small tornado and the power was cut out. Consequently, the recording was delayed until after their tour with Black Label Society. Children of Bodom released some information to "Metal Hammer" magazine about new album tracks. The three tracks they released were titled "Pussyfoot Miss Suicide", "Ugly", and "Was It Worth It?"


title: Children of Bodom

text: In November the band announced "The Ugly World Tour 2011" which would run from March–May 2011 and would feature dates around Europe. Opening Acts were Ensiferum, Machinae Supremacy and Amon Amarth (UK only). On 24 November, it was announced that the title of the album would be "Relentless Reckless Forever". The album was released on 8 March 2011. A music video for "Was It Worth It?" was produced, featuring skateboarder Chris Cole as well as noted pro skaters Jamie Thomas, Garrett Hill and Tom Asta. "Was It Worth It?" was released as a downloadable track for the video game "" in February 2011.


title: Children of Bodom

text: "Halo of Blood" is the band's eighth studio album. It was released on 6 June in Europe, 10 June in the United Kingdom and on 11 June in North America. The Mayhem Festival tour alongside Rob Zombie, Mastodon and Amon Amarth was also announced on 18 March 2013.


title: Children of Bodom

text: Music journalist Neil Kelly of "PopMatters" said in praise of the album, "Death metal could very well re-enter mainstream consciousness through Halo of Blood, the most accessible Children of Bodom release yet."


title: Children of Bodom

text: In May 2014, the band toured eastern Australia, visiting Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne with Eye of the Enemy as support, along with Orpheus Omega in Melbourne, and Emergency Gate in Brisbane and Sydney.


title: Children of Bodom

text: On 7 April 2015, the band announced that they have begun working on the follow-up of "Halo of Blood". On 29 May 2015, the band announced on their Facebook page that Roope Latvala is no longer part of Children of Bodom with the new album to be recorded as a four-piece for the first time. However, the band later updated that Latvala's part in the band will be filled in by Antti Wirman, keyboardist Janne Wirman's younger brother for live commitments until the end of the year; he debuted with the band in a private live show in Helsinki. In a later interview with Wirman, he stated that his brother would not join the band permanently. On 8 June 2015, the album title was announced as "I Worship Chaos" and was released through Nuclear Blast on 2 October 2015. On 19 January 2016, the band announced the addition of Daniel Freyberg on guitar. He would make his live debut with them in Tampa, Florida on 9 February.


title: Children of Bodom

text: In an interview with Noizr Zine, taken on September 14, 2017, Children of Bodom's keyboardist Janne Wirman answering to the question about the band's plans to start working on a new album with "the same production team" (Mikko Karmila and Mika Jussila) after '20 Years Down & Dirty' tour ends, said the following: "Yes, I think we are. And we're going to record it in our warehouse." In November 2017, Bassist Henkka Seppälä discussed in an interview that the band have half an album's worth of material written for the next album. They began to start recording the new album in March 2018. In August 2018, Seppälä stated in an interview with TotalRock Radio that the album will be released in early 2019. In November 2018, the band revealed that the album would be called "Hexed". It was released on 8 March 2019.


title: Children of Bodom

text: On November 1, 2019, it was announced that Children of Bodom would play their final show with the line-up at the time on December 15. The gig, dubbed "A Chapter Called Children of Bodom", took place at the Helsinki Ice Hall, Finland. The statement said:


title: Children of Bodom

text: It was later reported that the main reason for the departures was that Raatikainen, Seppälä and Wirman could no longer find a shared viewpoint with Laiho. Laiho and Freyberg found a new bassist and a new drummer according to Helsingin Sanomat. According to Finnish music zine Soundi, Laiho could not use the band's name without permission from his former bandmates.


title: Children of Bodom

text: In 2020, Laiho decided to carry on with Freyberg in their new band Bodom After Midnight. Joining them were bassist Mitja Toivonen (ex-Santa Cruz), drummer Waltteri Väyrynen (Paradise Lost) and touring keyboardist Lauri Salomaa. The band made a live debut on 23 October 2020 in Seinäjoki, Finland with two more shows at Tavastia in Helsinki, Finland, where the band played an hour-long set of Children of Bodom songs.


title: Children of Bodom

text: On 4 January 2021, it was announced that Alexi Laiho had died in late December 2020 from health complications at the age of 41. Bodom After Midnight was in the process of working on its full-length debut album, and before his death, recorded three songs and shot a music video, which were announced to be released posthumously. On 10 February, the band announced the release of an EP titled "Paint the Sky with Blood", which was released on 23 April 2021. The 3-song EP features the final recordings by Laiho, consisting of two original songs and a Dissection cover. Guitarist Daniel Freyberg stated that there would be no more releases: "There was no more songs written. That was all the songs, all the riffs Alexi ever presented us. So there's no leftovers."


title: Children of Bodom

text: In an April 2021 interview with "Loudwire", Freyberg stated that Bodom After Midnight would not continue without Laiho: "Unfortunately, Bodom After Midnight as an active band is pretty much going to be buried with Alexi. We don't really feel comfortable using the name Bodom without Alexi, because it's so connected to him."


title: Children of Bodom

text: Children of Bodom has been described usually as melodic death metal and power metal, combining the two genres together. Influences and inspirations to Children of Bodom were cited as a variety of artists such as Anthrax, Cannibal Corpse, Dimmu Borgir, Dire Straits, Entombed, Paul Gilbert, Guns N' Roses, Hypocrisy, Billy Idol, In Flames, Iron Maiden, Kreator, Yngwie Malmsteen, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Nine Inch Nails, Obituary, Ozzy Osbourne, Pantera, Poison, the Ramones, Sepultura, the Sex Pistols, Skid Row, Slayer, Stone, Suicidal Tendencies, Twisted Sister, Steve Vai and W.A.S.P.


title: Children of Bodom

text: Laiho has been, according to AllMusic, "widely celebrated as one of the genre's most accomplished players", while the band has an "instantly recognizable sound".


title: Children of Bodom

text: In 2022, a restaurant bar dedicated to the band called Bodom Bar & Sauna was opened in Espoo, located next to the Niittykumpu metro station. As the name suggests, the bar also includes a public sauna.


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: The Green Hornet is a 2011 American superhero film based on the character of the same name by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker that originated in a 1930s radio program and has appeared in movie serials, a television series, comic books and other media. Directed by Michel Gondry from a screenplay by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the film stars Rogen in the title role, Jay Chou, Christoph Waltz, Edward James Olmos, David Harbour, Tom Wilkinson and Cameron Diaz.


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: The film was released to theaters in North America on January 14, 2011 by Columbia Pictures in both RealD Cinema and IMAX 3D formats. The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics and grossed $227.8 million against a $110–120 million production budget.


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: When James Reid, publisher of the "Daily Sentinel", dies, his estranged son Britt takes over and fires most of the staff. Britt later rehires Kato, a mechanic skilled in martial arts, as his assistant and the two become friends. Britt convinces Kato they should become crime-fighters. Kato develops an Imperial car, outfitted with several gadgets and weapons, which they call the "Black Beauty". Britt plans to capture Benjamin Chudnofsky, a Russian mobster uniting the crime families of Los Angeles under his command. To get Chudnofsky's attention, Britt uses the "Daily Sentinel" to publish articles about his alter ego, dubbed "The Green Hornet".


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: Britt and Kato blow up several of Chudnofsky's meth labs, leaving calling cards behind. District Attorney Frank Scanlon frets over public perception that he cannot stop the Hornet. Britt asks his researcher Lenore out, but she invites Kato instead, making Britt jealous. Kato learns from her that mobsters often offer a peace summit to rivals in order to get close enough to kill them; Britt then tells Kato that Chudnofsky has offered them such a meeting. Kato tries dissuading him, but Britt ignores him. Once there, Chudnofsky tries to kill them, but Kato manages to save them and escape. Upon returning to the mansion, Britt and Kato start arguing and Britt fires both Kato and Lenore.


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: Britt discovers that Scanlon is corrupt and an ally of Chudnofsky. Kato arrives, with Chudnofsky and some of his men outside waiting for the "Hornet" to kill Britt. After Britt apologizes to Kato, he accepts and saves him. Suddenly, Chudnofsky and his men storm the restaurant and attempts to murder the duo who escape in another Black Beauty. Chudnofsky, Scanlon, and their men chase Britt and Kato throughout L.A., ending in a fight at the "Daily Sentinel" office.


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: Britt and Kato hide out at Lenore's house, where she learns their alter egos. The next morning, Britt promotes Axford to chief editor and pretends to get shot by Kato posing as the Green Hornet, solidifying the "Green Hornet" as a vigilante and allowing Britt to get treated in a hospital.


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: "Variety" reported in October 1992 that "The Green Hornet" was one of the properties represented by Leisure Concepts Inc., and though the trade paper said, without explanation, "rights in limbo", negotiations were ongoing with Universal Pictures. By September 1993, Chuck Pfarrer had finished the screenplay. Rich Wilkes was hired to rewrite Pfarrer's script, which resulted in George Clooney signing a pay-or-play contract. Clooney dropped out in December 1995 to star in "Batman and Robin", and an anonymous source at Universal told "Entertainment Weekly" the following May that Greg Kinnear was being looked at for the title role. Jason Scott Lee by this time had signed on to co-star as Kato. Universal hired music video director Michel Gondry in January 1997 for his feature film directorial debut. Gondry rewrote the Wilkes screenplay with Edward Neumeier, but after a year and a half of development, in which designs for props and vehicles had been created, the studio canceled the project. Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin had been signed on to produce by January 1997. Mark Wahlberg was offered the lead role, but the film languished in development hell and Gondry eventually left.


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: In April 2000, Universal entered early negotiations with Jet Li to star as Kato for $5.2 million against 5% of the film's gross. Dark Horse Entertainment and Charles Gordon joined Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin as producers. Christopher McQuarrie was writing a script by June 2000, but with it uncompleted by October, Li moved on to work on "The One" while remaining attached to "The Green Hornet". After spending about $10 million in development since 1992, Universal put "The Green Hornet" in turnaround in November 2001, by which time Li and the producers were no longer involved. Paramount and Columbia Pictures showed interest in picking up Universal's option, but Miramax Films won the bidding that month with what "Variety" reported as "a deal approaching $3 million". In May 2003 the studio was working with automobile companies on product placement opportunities for the Black Beauty. As part of the deal, Miramax would receive its "hero car" and $35 million in additional marketing. The car company that would have landed the deal would be given the chance to help develop "The Green Hornet", since a script had yet to be written and no director was attached to the planned 2005 release. "Variety" noted this figure would have tied the record $35 million deal between Ford Motor Company and MGM that featured the company's Aston Martin Vanquish, Jaguar XKR and Ford Thunderbird in the James Bond film "Die Another Day".


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: In February 2004, Miramax president Harvey Weinstein hired cult filmmaker and comic book writer Kevin Smith to write and direct the film, based on their previous four-film collaborations. Smith commented: "I dig the fact that he kicked off a run of billionaire playboys who decided to put on a mask and fight crime and that he was Batman before there was a Batman. I always said I'd never do a superhero film, based on my limited experience writing on "Superman Lives" and having to answer to the studio, Jon Peters, the comics company and eventually a director. Then there's a fandom that gets up in arms if you even try to stray from their character. Here, there is simplicity in the character and the situation". Jon Gordon and Hannah Minghella were now on as producers, with Harold Berkowitz and George Trendle, son of the character's co-creator, as executive producers.


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: Smith approached Jake Gyllenhaal for the lead role in March 2004. In mid-November of that year, Smith said he had written about 100 pages, and estimated another 100 to come. In February 2006, Smith's official website noted: "Kevin officially no longer has anything to do with the "Fletch" or "Green Hornet" projects". Smith went on to write the Dynamite Entertainment comic book "Green Hornet", which has run 11 issues as of late 2010.


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: In March 2007, producer Neal H. Moritz, who had been trying to acquire the film rights to the character for years, obtained the rights and through his Sony-based production company Original Film optioned them to Columbia Pictures. In July, Seth Rogen, in addition to starring in the lead role, was hired to co-write the script with frequent collaborator Evan Goldberg and named as an executive producer for "The Green Hornet". Rogen said that month he had not begun writing the screenplay yet, but anticipated the tone would be that of "a buddy action movie" with humor, "like "Lethal Weapon" and "48 Hrs." In September 2008, Columbia Pictures announced a June 25, 2010 release date, and that Hong Kong star Stephen Chow had signed to direct and to co-star as Kato. Chow, a fan of the TV show as a kid, explained: "The idea of stepping into Bruce Lee's shoes as Kato is both humbling and thrilling, and to get the chance to direct the project as my American movie debut is simply a dream come true". Chow dropped out as director the following December over creative differences. Columbia Pictures announced that Michel Gondry would direct the film in February 2009, on which Chow had remained as Kato, after impressing Columbia production presidents Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach with his pitch. Gondry had previously been involved with "The Green Hornet" when Universal Pictures was planning its version in 1997.


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: Chow dropped out as Kato in July 2009 over scheduling conflicts with other projects. By this time the release date had been pushed to July 9, 2010. In August, he was replaced with Taiwanese singer-actor Jay Chou. The studio was then in early talks with Nicolas Cage to play the gangster villain, and Cameron Diaz was negotiating to play researcher and love interest Lenore Case.


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: Nicolas Cage had been in talks to play the role of Benjamin Chudnofsky, saying in 2009 that ""The Green Hornet" was something I wanted to do. I think Michel Gondry is very talented and I had hoped it would work. But I think Seth Rogen and Michel had a different direction for the character totally than the way I wanted to go. ... I wasn't interested in just being straight-up bad guy who was killing people willy-nilly. I had to have some humanity and try to give it something where you could understand why the character was the way he was. But there wasn't enough time to develop it".


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: The filmmakers had wanted Van Williams, who played the Green Hornet in the 1960s television series, to make a cameo appearance as a cemetery guard, but Williams turned the part down.


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: Producer Neal H. Moritz considered filming "The Green Hornet" in Michigan, New York and Louisiana, but ultimately chose Los Angeles, California as the primary location shooting: "Ultimately, we made the decision, and thankfully the studio agreed with us, that the creative positives of shooting in Los Angeles outweighed the tax incentives offered to us elsewhere". Principal photography began at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California on September 2, 2009, for one week. Filming then moved to Chinatown, Los Angeles, for scenes featuring Kato's apartment. Through November, other locations included Sun Valley, Holmby Hills (specifically Fleur de Lys, which played the part of the Reid mansion), Bel-Air, Hawthorne and various locations downtown, including City Hall and the Los Angeles Times Building.


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: The production modified 29 Imperial Crown sedans from model years 1964 to 1966 to portray the Green Hornet's luxurious supercar, the Black Beauty. Twenty-six of those cars were wrecked during production and three survived in pristine condition. One such vehicle was given away by the parent company of Carl's Jr. and Hardees as a sweepstakes prize and later consigned to the 2017 Barrett-Jackson auto auction at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, where it was sold for $29,700.


title: The Green Hornet (2011 film)

text: Sony replaced the film's June 25, 2010, release date with "Grown Ups", which moved "The Green Hornet" to July 9, 2010. Sony then scheduled the film for December 22, 2010, before announcing on April 23, 2010, that it was pushing to January 14, 2011, to secure more time to convert it to 3D.