After the success of Cobra Kai, Sony has decided to go back to The Karate Kid franchise on the big screen again.
When Robert Mark Kamen wrote the script for The Karate Kid back in 1984, nobody could have imagined the seismic cultural impact it would have. Three sequels, an animated television series, a remake and a legacy sequel television series are now all stemming from his script about an underdog fighting against the odds.
The biggest shift in the popularity of The Karate Kid is undoubtedly due to Cobra Kai. Launched on YouTube Red back in 2018, what started as a simple narrative which reframed William Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence as the hero of his own story has grown into a behemoth. The most popular show on Netflix, near universal critical acclaim and writing that manages to incorporate legacy characters but, crucially, actually advance their stories and develop them instead of using them for cheap cameos. So far they have included almost everybody bar Hilary Swank’s Julie Pierce from The Next Karate Kid, and even that is quite likely to happen eventually.
And now we have the news of a new movie.
Quite where this new film fits in is unclear, as there is currently no director or cast attached.
It does seem, however, that despite Sony’s comment about the new film being a “return to the original Karate Kid franchise”, Cobra Kai showrunner Jon Hurwirtz said on Twitter “The guys and I would love to make Karate Kid and Cobra Kai movies and hope to someday. But this one isn’t from us or focused on the Cobra Kai cast. Don’t know much about it, but wish it well”.
The Karate Kid is currently scheduled to be released on the 7th June 2024, we’ll keep you updated as we hear more.
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