Oh No, The New Karate Movie Could Be Repeating The Mistake That Almost Killed The Franchise 29 Years Ago
With a new Karate Kid movie featuring Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan in the works, the franchise must be careful not to repeat some old mistakes.
The recently announced Karate Kid movie must be careful not to repeat the mistake that almost ended the franchise forever in 1994. The original Karate Kid trilogy featured Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita as Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi, respectively, with each film presenting the “karate kid” with a new challenge. The saga would continue with The Next Karate Kid starring Hilary Swank as Julie Pierce, which would then be followed by a remake-ish of the original movie more than a decade later – 2010’s The Karate Kid.
None of the Karate Kid sequels could match the impact of the first movie. This arguably changed when Cobra Kai, which started as a YouTube original series and moved to Netflix ahead of season 3, became a streaming hit and introduced characters like Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence to a new generation. Cobra Kai season 6 will be the show’s final, and the franchise will now go back to the big screen with a new film.
The New Karate Kid Movie Could Be Repeating The Next Karate Kid’s Mistake
After two disappointing sequels to The Karate Kid, none of which matched the quality or the success of the first movie, it would have made sense to wrap up the franchise altogether. However, the studio tried to keep the Karate Kid saga alive with The Next Karate Kid, a movie that, despite featuring Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi, had little to no connections to the previous three films. Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso does not appear in The Next Karate Kid, and the only reference to the character comes when Mr. Miyagi mentions to Julie that he “used to live with a boy.”
The Next Karate Kid did not work at all, making only $15,8 million at the box office and becoming the lowest-grossing Karate Kid movie to this day. Trying to continue the franchise without even properly acknowledging the previous main character was not a good idea, even though Julie’s story was compelling on its own. This is a mistake that the new Karate Kid movie, which will see Cobra Kai star Ralph Macchio return to the big screen as Daniel alongside Jackie Chan as Mr. Han, cannot make. However, as of now, it is unclear how this “Karate Kid 6” will tie into Cobra Kai, if at all, which is worrying.
Karate Kid’s 2024 Movie Cannot Move On From Cobra Kai Completely
Just like The Next Karate Kid should not have tried to pretend Daniel never existed while also relying on Mr. Miyagi’s popularity, the new Karate Kid film must not ignore what Cobra Kai has built since 2018. There is no denying that Cobra Kai reignited the popularity of the Karate Kid movies, with the show working both for those nostalgic over Daniel’s story and new audiences. Even if the new Karate Kid is not directly tied to Cobra Kai, it cannot pretend that the last five years of Daniel’s life did not happen. Since Cobra Kai began, Daniel has arguably gone through more character development than in his Karate Kid films.
That is not to mention the family and the students introduced in Cobra Kai, including but not limited to Daniel’s wife and kids, and his pupils from Miyagi-do Karate. So far, the only two confirmed names for the untitled Karate Kid film are Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio, meaning it is unclear whether William Zabka or anyone else from Cobra Kai will return. As revealed in the video announcement, the film will feature a “new karate kid,” which makes sense considering the name of the saga. What that means for characters like Miguel, Sam, and Robby after Cobra Kai season 6 remains to be seen.
