Sony is playing this new Karate Kid-themed project close to the chest. But could it be more of a spin-off than a sequel?
Cobra Kai Season 6 is delayed due to the writer’s strike, but in the meantime, Sony is looking to reboot the Karate Kid franchise in a surprising way. Last year, it was revealed that Sony set aside a date on their scheduled releases for a new Karate Kid film, set for June 2024. This came after the fifth season of Cobra Kai had already dropped on Netflix. Details have slowly been revealed — largely due to who isn’t involved with the new movie. Both Ralph Macchio and Cobra Kai creator Jon Hurwitz have stated that they haven’t been contacted to participate in the upcoming movie, nor do they even know what it is.
Recently, it was reported that Jackie Chan, who starred in the 2010 remake, was in talks to return to his role as Mr. Han in this film, which would make it a sequel to that film. Now, there are new rumored details about what the film’s plot may involve. According to industry insider Daniel Richtman via his popular Patreon, “It’s about a Chinese 16-year-old who studied at Jackie Chan’s [Kung Fu studio] in China. His family moves to Brooklyn. He falls for a girl whose dad is a 35-year-old washed-up boxer who runs a pizza place. The kid trains the girl’s dad for a comeback.” He also adds that the studio has sent an offer to Avatar‘s Sam Worthington to play the dad who is the former boxer. Of course this is all a rumor, but Richtman, a notorious scooper, is often right on the money.
The 2010 remake took a beat-for-beat cue from the original, but it did have the benefit of being set in China with original characters, although they mostly fit the archetypes of the original. One major asset the remake utilized is how Mr. Han was a Kung Fu expert as opposed to Karate. With a differing history and philosophy from Karate, the movie gave the opportunity for Jackie to bestow some fresh principles of the martial art on the audience. In fact, at one point, the movie was to be released domestically as The Kung Fu Kid before Sony decided to bank on the more established name despite the little sense it made. However, the film is still titled The Kung Fu Kid internationally. It ended up $359 million worldwide on a $40 million budget.
Ultimately, if the plot details prove to be true, this project sounds like a spin-off more than anything. When it was announced, reports stated this new movie has no connection to Cobra Kai, and yet, it was said it “is a return to the original Karate Kid franchise.” It could have been interpreted that the studio would be attempting to merge the two into a shared universe since, even though the remake was heavily derived from the original, it could have been entirely possible that it takes place in Daniel Larusso’s world.