LOVE AND HONOR, courage and chivalry, and a lot of swashbuckling! Four generations have grown up with the legendary adventures of Zorro. Now, new adventures have put him in the spotlight once again!

Zorro - "fox" in Spanish - is a classic masked hero! With his well-known mask, cape and "Z" mark, Zorro (Don Diego de la Vega) fights for justice in the pueblo of Reina de Los Angeles in the Spanish (in some versions Mexican) province of California in the first half of the 19th century. As the wealthy caballero Diego de la Vega, he appears to be an idle dandy and something of a laughing-stock. But Diego goes from fop to fox, as he takes on the secret identity as Zorro to fight corruption and injustice, bringing hope to the oppressed with his characteristic swordsmark.

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Furthermore, internationally recognized author Isabel Allende (House of the Spirits, Eva Luna, Daughter of Fortune, The Infinite Plan and the novel for young readers City of the Beast) has written her own version of the classic story of how the young Diego de la Vega became Zorro. Her imaginative tale re-creates the historic legend with dramatic intensity, weaving together Spanish history, California history, mythic folk tales, salty sea voyages, pirate adventures, Native American lore and more.

From early pulp fiction and silent films to modern digital media, the Zorro legend seems to always remain in the center of interest. Not only one of the first in a long row of masked avengers, Zorro also embodies many of the characteristics of a classic hero. Simultaneously wise, brave, charming, cunning and romantic, Zorro has true cross-generational appeal, with four generations around the world having grown up with the character.

Zorro personifies action, romance, humor and heroism. He is simultaneously wise, brave, charming, cunning and extremely romantic - a classic character which has been successfully reinterpreted with the spirit of the times.

Zorro in the movies. The internationally successful feature film The Mask of Zorro premiered in Summer 1998 and grossed over $250 million worldwide. The film showcased Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins in a career departure role as an action hero. Antonio Banderas, an international Spanish heartthrob, fulfilled the athletic and romantic hero's role as the heir to Spanish California's legendary masked avenger. Executive producer Steven Spielberg and director Martin Campbell selected Catherine Zeta-Jones as the female lead in a career setting role. The sequel The Legend of Zorro was released in 2005.

But Zorro, of course, has been a man of the screen for a long time. Pulp fiction writer Johnston McCulley first created the character as early as 1919, when the 5-part serial The Curse of Capistrano was published in the All-Story Weekly Magazine. (McCulley would eventually write 64 further Zorro stories until his death in 1958). The potential of the character was quickly recognized by actress Mary Pickford, who encouraged her husband Douglas Fairbanks to take on the role. The success was instant: in November 1920, the silent film The Mark of Zorro immediately scored the largest single day gross in movie history up to that time, and the movie remains a classic in film history. A sound re-make of the movie in 1940, starring Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone, was also extremely successful.

Zorro on television. An animated film created by DIC Entertainment, The Amazing Zorro, was released in the US in 2002. In 1997, Zorro was adapted into an animated series of 26 half-hours, produced by Harvest Entertainment, Warner Bros. International and Fred Wolf Films.

Prior to the animated television series from 1997, Zorro has appeared in several adaptions for the television screen. - A Disney TV series aired in 1957-59, starring Guy Williams as Zorro. Williams also played Zorro in the feature films Zorro the Avenger and The Sign of Zorro. - Duncan Regehr starred as the Spanish fox in eighty-eight episodes of a live-action series from 1989-94, an international co-production from New World Television.

Thirteen half-hours of the animated series The New Adventures of Zorro were produced by Filmation in 1981. Two years later Zorro's voice in the animated series, Henry Darrow, played an aging Zorro in a short-lived spoof on the Zorro character, Zorro And Son. - In 1992, Italian television company Mondo produced 52 half-hours of a low-budget animated Zorro series, in which the hero could literally transform into a fox.

Zorro in licensing and syndication. Cryo Interactive and In Utero have released the 3D stealth-adventure game The Shadow of Zorro for the Sony PlayStation 2. A new game for PlayStation 2 developed by Argonaut Games PLC was released in connection with the upcoming movie.

SilverBirch Studios, a leading designer and developer of premium games and ringtones for cell phones and mobile devices, have developed the mobile phone adventure The Blade of Zorro for ActiveCore Technologies. Distribution is made to all major mobile devices in Europe and North America.

Numerous promotion campaigns have successfully featured Zorro to sell various brands, including Wal-Mart, Ford Mustang, Duracell batteries, Citroën, Hasbro, Mars, Head & Shoulders, Heinz, Unilever, Canon, Fujitsu and other.

Playmates, the master toy license, debuted a unique Zorro toy line in early 1998.

A syndicated Zorro comic strip became a feature of the New York Daily News among other prominent daily papers for two years from its debut in April 1999.

Plus Licens represents Zorro Productions for merchandising, promotional and publishing rights to Zorro in the Nordic countries and Eastern Europe.