Karate Kid: Legends hits a crucial box office milestone in less than a month in theaters. The martial arts franchise has relaunched with its first movie installment since the 2010 reboot that starred Jackie Chan as Mr. Han. Following the six-season success of Cobra Kai on Netflix, Legends collides the worlds of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Han, as they attempt to train the next karate kid, Li Fong (Ben Wang). The sequel debuted with a modest $21 million domestic opening and has since been slowly climbing the franchise’s box office charts.

According to ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, Karate Kid: Legends has already pᴀssed the $95 million global milestone in less than a month. The sequel is expected to conclude the week with a $98.3 million global total, which consists of $49.3 million domestically and $48.8 million internationally. The movie is currently sitting as the third-highest-grossing Karate Kid movie after overtaking the original 1984 installment earlier last week.

Why The Karate Kid: Legends Box Office Milestone Is Important

It’s Close To Hitting The Break-Even Point

The Karate Kid: Legends’ box office milestone is crucial since it could be nearing the break-even point. The sequel has a $45 million budget, and the standard break-even point estimate requires that a movie makes at least 2.5x the amount of its costs. While the exact amount is not official, Legends is expected to hit the $100 million mark within the next week. If so, that would make it only the third Karate Kid movie to hit that milestone and inch it closer to its break-even point, which would likely be around $100-115 million.

Additionally, the latest milestone means that Legends is now closing the gap on The Karate Kid, Part II in the franchise’s charts. Whereas the 2025 sequel was able to easily surpᴀss the original 1984 movie, taking over as the franchise’s second-highest grosser may be more challenging since Part II crossed just over $115 million. Box office momentum has been slowing down for Legends since more summer releases are dropping each week. Still, the slow and steady approach has benefited the sequel so far, so anything is possible at this rate.

It’s worth mentioning that the box office plays a great deal in determining the fate of a franchise. Legends marks the franchise’s first movie installment in 15 years and the first major test outside the Cobra Kai series. Despite a decent box office run so far, there is currently no word on whether Sony is considering another Karate Kid movie. On the other hand, the franchise’s future overall is also uncertain following Cobra Kai. While the creative team and Macchio have discussed potential spinoffs, Netflix has not confirmed any developments at this time.

Our Take On Karate Kid: Legends Box Office Milestone

While it’s too soon to determine if Legends can hit the break-even point, it’s certainly in a better spot than many summer movies that have been released in 2025 thus far. A big reason for this is the smaller box office, which makes it more doable to become a box office success. In contrast, films like Thunderbolts* and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning have not experienced similar fortunes despite coming from much bigger franchises.

In addition, it’s not surprising that the movie has been taking this slow and steady approach. The Karate Kid is generally a very popular franchise and has gained a lot of popularity since the series moved to Netflix. While critics were more mixed, Legends set a franchise record with the best Rotten Tomatoes audience score with 92%, and that likely helped with word-of-mouth and its growing box office. Thus, even if it doesn’t hit break-even, it still has opportunities to become a success, particularly on streaming, and its home release may be happening very soon.

Source: ᴅᴇᴀᴅline