Production has begun on Karate Kid, which will be the sixth film installment in Sony’s long-running martial arts franchise. Two more Marvel Cinematic Universe actors have also boarded the cast of the hotly-anticipated sequel.
On April 2, Karate Kid director Jonathan Entwistle (I Am Not Okay With This, The End of the F***ing World) posted on Instagram that filming had started on the upcoming legacy sequel, sharing an image of the movie’s clapperboard. Unless Sony decides to retitle the movie before its December release, the clapperboard seems to confirm that Karate Kid is the official title for the sequel.
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One day after Entwistle’s announcement, Deadline reported that Aramis Knight and Wyatt Oleff had joined the cast of Karate Kid in undisclosed roles. Knight is best known for portraying Red Dagger in the Disney+ series, Ms. Marvel, while Oleff is known for starring in Warner Bros.’ It movies and playing a young Peter Quill in the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
The original Karate Kid film was a major cultural phenomenon in the United States when it was released in 1984, grossing over $130 million worldwide. The success of the movie led to three sequels: The Karate Kid Part II (1986), The Karate Kid Part III (1989), and The Next Karate Kid (1994). While the first three films followed Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso, the fourth installment focused on Julie Pierce (Hilary Swank). Despite the protagonist change, Pat Morita still reprised his role as beloved sensei Mr. Miyagi. After a 16-year hiatus, the franchise returned to the big screen in 2010 with the remake, The Karate Kid, starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith.
The Karate Kid Remake Joins the Miyagiverse
While the 2010 movie was originally believed to be unconnected to the previous four entries (and the television series Cobra Kai), the upcoming Karate Kid will retroactively add the remake to the Miyagiverse, a term coined by the creators of Cobra Kai to refer to any project in The Karate Kid franchise that featured Morita’s Mr. Miyagi. While plot details for Karate Kid remain largely under wraps, the upcoming sequel will follow a Chinese fighter-in-training (American Born Chinese‘s Ben Wang) who finds “strength and direction via martial arts and a tough but wise mentor (or two),” suggesting that both Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) and Mr. Han (Chan) will train Wang’s character.
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Besides Macchio, Chan, Wang, Knight, and Oleff, the cast for Karate Kid includes Sadie Stanley (The Goldbergs) as Wang’s character’s romantic interest, Joshua Jackson (The Mighty Ducks) as her father, and Ming-Na Wen (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) in an undisclosed role. At this time, Karate Kid is not expected to connect to Netflix’s Cobra Kai (itself a legacy sequel to The Karate Kid), which will air its sixth and final season later this year.
Karate Kid is scheduled to hit theaters on Dec. 13, 2024.
Karate Kid (2024)
Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan to star in new Karate Kid movie
- Director
- Jonathan Entwistle
- Release Date
- December 13, 2024
- Cast
- Jackie Chan , Ralph Macchio , Pat Morita
- Writers
- Rob Lieber
- Main Genre
- Action
- Production Company
- Columbia Pictures, Jerry Weintraub Productions, Overbrook Entertainment.
