Gale Anne Hurd Wants To Keep The Hulk Movie Franchise Alive

Compare 2003′s “Hulk” with the new-to-DVD “The Incredible Hulk,” and you’ll find one common creative element: Gale Anne Hurd.

Hurd, the super-producer behind the “Terminator” and “Punisher” franchises, fell in love with the big green guy as a child, purchased the rights to him in the early ’90s while Marvel was in disarray and continues to cherish him as the most powerful of all superhero stories. And now that the character is relaunched, Hurd has big plans for the years ahead.

“When girls are growing up, they’re the ones who are picked on,” she said. “I had an older brother, and there’s no way that you could ever really fight back. So, to me, the Hulk was wish fulfillment. [My family] had a little cabin, and in the summers we’d go up there. It didn’t have running water and it didn’t have electricity, but the big thing there was a market we would go to before we went up to our cabin, and they sold ‘Spider-Man,’ ‘Incredible Hulk’ and ‘Fantastic Four’ [comics].

“I always bought them out,” the now-53-year-old Hollywood power player laughed. “That was my treat for the summer.”

This past June, Hurd returned the favor by giving audiences a summer treat with “The Incredible Hulk,” a film that established Edward Norton as the new Dr. Bruce Banner. And although Marvel Studio’s president of production recently told us that Hulk’s future is somewhat uncertain, Hurd revealed that she has every intention of creating an “Incredible Hulk 2″ and that Norton is signed on to once again get angry. Read more