This weekend marks the release ofKarate Kid: Legends, which follows the massively successful seriesCobra Kaibut serves as a legacy sequel that unites two distinct parts of theKarate Kidfranchise: the original 1984Karate Kidand its subsequent follow-ups and the 2010The Karate Kid, which was originally positioned as a reboot. Due to the overwhelming popularity ofCobra Kai, the legacy of the 2010The Karate Kidfilm has largely gone unnoticed, with most people remembering it as a star vehicle for a young Jaden Smith.
While it may be hard to believe, it has been 15 years sinceThe Karate Kidfilm, starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, which reimagined the classic 1984 film. The film features a young American boy moving to China and learning martial arts to combat bullying, and becoming friends with a mysterious older teacher.Karate Kid: Legendsis the closest thing the 2010 film has to a sequel, which is surprising considering it was a box office hit that ranked among the highest-grossing films of its year. Sony Pictures spent nearly a decade trying and failing to turn the movie into a long-running franchise. Here’s why Jaden Smith’sThe Karate Kidnever got a sequel, a breakdown of the prior attempts to integrate the film intoCobra Kai, and how it finally received the legacy sequel treatment withKarate Kids: Legends.
The Karate Kid
‘The Karate Kid’ Was a Box Office Hit
In the summer of 2010, nobody expected much fromThe Karate Kid. Despite being a remake of a popular 1980s movie, the novelty of remaking ’80s films was beginning to cool down at the time. Ironically, it was set to go head-to-head at the box office with another ’80s property:The A-Team, a big-budget feature film adaptation of the popular television show of the same name. With stars like Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper,The A-Teamlooked to be the winner that weekend at the box office. In contrast, even the star power of Jackie Chan seemingly couldn’t muster up excitement for a reimagining ofThe Karate Kidthat didn’t even feature karatebut instead kung fu (in some parts of the world, the movie was even released asThe Kung Fu Kid).
Yet on July 02, 2025,The Karate Kidswept the leg ofThe A-Teamat the box office. Not only did it open to an impressive $18.8 million on its opening day, but its gross increased to $21 million on Saturday before closing out the weekend with $55 million, claiming the number 1 spot at the box office. Not only didThe Karate Kidmake more than doubleThe A-Team’s $25 million opening weekend, but it essentially recouped its initial $40 million production budget. Even withToy Story 3opening the following week and dominating the summer,The Karate Kidstill managed to gross $176 million domestically and $359 million worldwide. It was the seventh-highest-grossing movie of that summer and the 11th-highest-grossing film of 2010.
The Karate Kidwas a box office hit that generated largely positive reviews from critics and family audiences. It earned a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 61 on Metacritic. With all that in mind, it seems like a sequel would have been fast-tracked. With how quickly studios can seemingly turn around sequels to popular movies,the fact that Sony Pictures struggled withThe Karate Kid 2is perplexing.
Sony Tried To Make a ‘Karate Kid’ Sequel, but Delays Forced It To Be Canceled
Plans forThe Karate Kid 2were announced shortly after the 2010 film’s release. Director Breck Eisner, who helmedThe Craziesin 2010, signed on to direct the sequel. He was a notably different choice than Harold Zwart, who had earned a name directing family filmsAgent Cody BanksandThe Pink Panther 2before signing on to helmThe Karate Kid. This possibly suggested a darker film than the previous entry. However, progress on the sequel was slow, particularly asJaden Smith was busy working on the futurebox office flopAfter Earthwith his father Will Smith by director M. Night Shyamalan.
Due to the increasing time gap, multiple writers cycled through the production. These included Zak Penn (The Incredible Hulk),writing team Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris (Kung Fu Panda), and writing duo Jeremiah Friedman and Nick Palmer. Due to the delays, it was believed many of the new drafts were to age up Jaden Smith’s character, Dre Parker. In 2017, Chan hinted that the previous script drafts forThe Karate Kid 2weren’t very good, likely leading Sony to go through multiple drafts to appease both Chan and lure Smith back.
Karate Kid Franchise in Order Chronologically and by Release Date
The Karate Kid franchise has expanded with multiple films and the popular Cobra Kai series. Here’s how to watch it chronologically and by release.
By 2014,Eisner had dropped out of directingdue to scheduling conflicts withThe Last Witch Hunter. Production onThe Karate Kid 2was so slow that, in 2017, Eisner returned to the project. However, by the end of the year, the project seemed to be dead.Smith was 12 years old whenThe Karate Kidcame out, but by 2017, he was nearly 20, seemingly having aged out of the role.
At the same time, the 2000s and early 2010s era of remakes had given way to a new trend: the legacy sequel.Star Wars: The Force Awakens,Jurassic World, andCreedhad indicated to Hollywood that audiences didn’t want remakes and were embracing the years' worth of continuity in these long-running franchises. Around this time,The Karate Kidwas getting its legacy sequel. Instead of continuing the story of the 2010 film that was intended to be a remake,why not make a legacy sequel toThe Karate Kidtrilogy, but this time from Johnny Lawrence’s point of view? Hence,Cobra Kaiwas born and debuted in 2018.
‘Cobra Kai’ References to the 2010 Film and ‘Karate Kid: Legends’
WhenCobra Kaifirst debuted, it was a moderate hit on a platform that rarely got viewership: YouTube Red. However, the reviews were strong, and it continued into a second season before being picked up by Netflix, where it ran for four additional seasons and reached a wider audience.Cobra KaiSeason 1 was primarily focused on revisiting characters fromThe Karate Kid. However, as the series continued, it expanded its roster of returningcharacters fromThe Karate Kidfranchise. Characters fromThe Karate Kid Part IIandThe Karate Kid Part IIIbecame major returning characters, leaving many fans wondering if the series would ever be able to land Hilary Swank fromThe Next Karate Kid, or integrate 2010’sThe Karate Kidand retroactively make it the fifth film in the franchise.
The series never featured Swank or any references to the 2010 film. The only meaningful connectionCobra Kaimaintains with the 2010 film is through Will Smith, who serves as an executive producer on the series. This is because Smith’s production company, Overbrook Entertainment, acquired the rights to produceThe Karate Kidin 2010, and the rights never lapsed, despite not makingThe Karate Kid 2. Overbook Entertainment greenlitCobra Kai, and as the company’s co-founder, Smith receives an executive producer credit on the series despite having no involvement in the day-to-day operations of the series.
TheCobra Kaiseries creators said they were open to bringingThe Karate Kidreimagining as part of their larger story, but never found a significantly meaningful way to do so. However, the creators ofCobra Kailater stated that it would be impossible, as the seriesreferenced the actor Jackie Chan, who played Mr. Han in the 2010 filmThe Karate Kid.Because Jackie Chan exists as an actor within the world ofCobra Kai, a character he played couldn’t also exist in the franchise. While Ralph Macchio seemingly shot down the idea of 2010’sThe Karate Kidbeing part of the larger Miyagi-Verse in 2021, by 2023, he had changed his tune as it was announced thatKarate Kid: Legendswould bridge the two distinctive corners of the franchise,uniting Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso with Jackie Chan’s Mr. Hanto train a new student while also establishing a previous untold history between Mr. Miyagi and Mr. Han.
Cobra Kai: 10 Things the TV Show Did Better Than The Karate Kid Movies
Although The Karate Kid trilogy is an iconic set of films, its spinoff sequel series Cobra Kai actually does a lot of things better.
Karate Kid: Legendswas initially set to open in 2024, but was delayed to accommodate the release of the final season ofCobra Kai, which concluded in February 2025. Despite Macchio and Chan being the only returning cast members from their respective corners of the franchise, the door hopefully remains open for potential sequels to further character returns. While most fans might be looking forward to seeingCobra Kaicharacters like Johnny Lawrence, Miguel Diaz, Samantha LaRusso, Tory Nichols, or Robby Keene return,it certainly would be nice to catch up with Jaden Smith’s Dre Parker and see how his life turned out after the 2010 film.
Karate Kid: Legendsmight not be the sequel that 2010’sThe Karate Kidintended or that fans initially hoped for.Yet after years of being the overlooked entry inThe Karate Kidfranchise, despite being a surprise box office hit, the Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith-led entry is finally getting its moment in the spotlight. With many kids who likely saw that 2010Karate Kidfilm in theaters being adults, the nostalgia factor is working in its favor. That might explain how a remake has now become part of a crossover and legacy sequel uniting two generations ofKarate Kidfans.Karate Kid: Legendsis in theaters now.
