The Karate Kid Movie?
Social media was buzzing all about it. One of our favorite Youtube turned Netflix series, Cobra Kai, starring America’s favorite karate kicking duo of Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. After 5 hit seasons of The Karate Kid spinoff, Cobra Kai, fans have been waiting to see this type of martial arts action on the big screen.
The Karate Kid was a smash hit back in 1984 and launched the career of Ralph Macchio who plays the titular character. The movie was so successful that is spurred two sequels, The Karate Kid Part II and The Karate Kid Part III.
In The Karate Kid Part II, Daniel travels to Okinawa Japan to join up with his father figure / sensei, Mr. Miyagi (played by the late Pat Norita in his most heralded role). In Okinawa, Daniel discovers the past that Mr. Miyagi left behind when he came to America including his former best friend Sato, and the love of his life, Yukie (played by Nobu McCarthy). In the end Daniel learns the secret of the Miyagi family karate, and taps into inner strength he never knew he had.
In The Karate Kid Part III, Daniel returns back to the Valley and finds himself wanting to defend his All-Valley Tournament title that he won by using the now world famous crane technique on Johnny Lawrence (played by William Zabka). This time he does so with Mr. Miyagi, who does not want to train Daniel to fight, as karate is to be used for self-defense only, not for a tournament.
Lacking a mentor, Daniel falls prey to Terry Silver (played by Thomas Ian Griffith), a martial arts master and Vietnam vet who co-founded Cobra Kai with John Kreese (played by Martin Kove). Instead of learning the ways of Miyagi, Daniel learns the way of the Cobra. Strike Hard. Strike First. No Mercy.
As it turns out, Terry Silver didn’t have the best interests of Daniel LaRusso at heart (big surprise) and this was an elaborate ruse to punish him for what he did to John Kreese. Kreese and Silver had been training karate’s bad boy Matt Barnes (played by Sean Kanan). After realizing that Daniel he had been deceived by Kreese and Silver, Mr. Miyagi returns to Daniel’s side. Together they defend Daniel’s honor at the All-Valley tournament where they become victorious.
The Karate Kid trilogy was so successful that it even produced a spinoff (The Next Karate Kid) starring a young Hilary Swank and Pat Norita, and a reboot (The Karate Kid (2009), starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan.
While some had thought that the franchise was dead, it was resurrected back in 2018 by Youtube for a series called Cobra Kai. Bringing together the past and the new generation, the show has been able to be both a critical and commercial success.
That’s why fans were through the roof for a new Karate Kid movie. However, it seems like Twitter may have jumped the gun too soon.
While there is a new Karate Kid movie that is in the works by Sony, the co-creator of Cobra Kia, Jon Hurwitz, confirmed that the new movie is not related to the Cobra Kai Netflix series.
While the metaverse concept is pretty popular these days, we don’t think that the Karate Kid needs a metaverse. And it definitely does not need a recast (there’s a few movies that have recast lead characters with very limited success).
So here’s hoping that we see Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence on the big screen back again for one last time (or three)!!!
