It’s now been 40 years since the first The Karate Kid movie premiered, and after all these years, The Karate Kid franchise is bigger than I ever thought that it would be. Despite the concept of The Karate Kid franchise being pretty simple, the original film’s massive success proved to be the start of a huge franchise, with the classic 1984 film getting all kinds of sequels and spinoffs. Four decades after the release of The Karate Kid, there is still a lot to explore within the franchise, and I’m impressed at how consistent it still is to this day.
The Karate Kid franchise started out with one simple movie about a boy who moved to California and became the student of a mysterious karate teacher. The classic tale of Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi was a huge hit, with The Karate Kid being the start of a massive saga that is still going on four decades later. The original The Karate Kid movie received three sequels, a remake, and a spinoff TV show that maintains the continuity of the original film. The Karate Kid just had its 40th birthday, so now is the perfect time for us to reflect on its impact.
The Karate Kid Premiered 40 Years Ago On June 22, 1984
The Karate Kid is 40 years old, with the film premiering on June 22, 1984. The Karate Kid was the product of a collaboration between two filmmakers, with their histories making them the perfect choice to make The Karate Kid. The film was written by screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen, who based The Karate Kid on his own life as well as details from a newspaper article. Kamen then collaborated with director John G. Avildsen, the director of Rocky, a film that shares many story beats and themes with the iconic martial arts movie.
The Karate Kid was a small movie, especially based on the success of Avildsen’s past films, with it only having a budget of $8 million. Although expectations for The Karate Kid weren’t especially high, the film soon turned out to be a huge success. The film ended up grossing $130.8 million against its comparatively small budget, with it being one of the biggest hits of the year. The Karate Kid was the fifth highest-grossing movie of 1984, which is impressive considering that it was behind Ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Gremlins.
After the success of the first The Karate Kid, a sequel was greenlit and put into production quickly, with The Karate Kid Part II being released in 1986. Although it wasn’t as critically successful, it found similar levels of commercial success, with the sequel making $130 million against a budget of $12.5 million. Then, another film was made, with The Karate Kid Part III being released in 1989 and making $38.9 million against a $12.5 million budget. While I and many others consider the third film to be a disappointment, it was far from the end of the franchise.
The Karate Kid Franchise Tried To Reinvent Itself Twice After Daniel LaRusso
The Karate Kid’s first two sequels weren’t nearly as good as the original, but due to the franchise still proving itself to be lucrative, the studio wasn’t ready to give up just yet. Instead, The Karate Kid decided to reinvent itself, with it deciding to leave behind Daniel LaRusso and move on to a new protagonist named Julie Pierce, played by Hilary Swank. This culminated in the 1994 release of The Next Karate Kid, which made $15.8 million on a budget of $12 million. I consider this to be the worst entry in the franchise, a position that many fans agree with.
Because of the critical and commercial failure of The Next Karate Kid, the franchise laid dormant for a while. However, The Karate Kid took another swing at relevancy in 2010 with a remake. 2010’s The Karate Kid remake featured Jaden Smith as Dre Parker and Jackie Chan as Mr. Han, with these two characters being analogous to LaRusso and Miyagi. The remake made $359.1 million on a budget of $40 million, and while I don’t think it was as good as the original, it proved that there was still interest in The Karate Kid.
Cobra Kai Changed Karate Kid Forever (& It Made It More Special)
Despite 2010’s The Karate Kid remake establishing a new story and characters for the franchise, The Karate Kid multiverse decided to continue on without Jaden Smith’s iteration of the character. Instead, the next step in The Karate Kid franchise was the spinoff TV series Cobra Kai. Cobra Kai was set in the same timeline as the original The Karate Kid story, with it following original movie villain Johnny Lawrence as he decides to reopen the titular rival dojo.
Cobra Kai is one of the most well-received pieces of media to come out of The Karate Kid franchise, and it is my favorite The Karate Kid project to release since the original movie. Cobra Kai allowed side characters from the original movie to have their stories fleshed out so much more, with it also bringing back Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso all these years later. Cobra Kai was the perfect way to continue the story of the original movie all these years later, with it making the franchise that I have loved for so long even more special.
Cobra Kai Is Ending With Season 6 (But The Karate Kid Is Not)
Sadly, Cobra Kai is ending with season 6. However, The Karate Kid franchise is not. A new movie in The Karate Kid franchise is in the works, with it making the interesting move to star Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso and Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han. This means that the upcoming film will cross over both The Karate Kid timelines, tying everything together nearly two decades after the release of the reboot film.
The new The Karate Kid movie is set to release on May 30, 2025, with it being the first movie to feature Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso in decades. The film will kick off an all-new era of The Karate Kid, one that was spurred on by the success of Cobra Kai. I hope that the next The Karate Kid movie is a hit that lives up to the massive legacy of the original film, with it potentially leading to more sequels in the future.
