2010’s The Karate Kid was a hit, but it took many years for it to get a sequel, for a variety of reasons. The project, which wasn directed by Harald Zwart (The Pink Panther 2) from a screenplay by Christopher Murphey (Body of Proof), was a remake of the 1984 movie of the same name and the fifth installment in the martial arts film franchise overall. It followed maintenance worker Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) training young boy Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) in kung fu after he moves from Detroit to Beijing with his mother Sherry (Taraji P. Henson).

The movie was a theatrical success, grossing $359.1 million against its $40 million budget. In addition to this worldwide total making it the 15th highest-grossing movie of 2010 (ahead of major тιтles such as Black Swan, Sєx and the City 2, Salt, Resident Evil: Afterlife, The Expendables, Eat Pray Love, Paranormal Activity 2, and True Grit), it marks it as the highest-grossing installment of the franchise, far surpᴀssing Part II‘s $115.1 million. However, it took a decade and a half for the remake to get a direct sequel, which has arrived in the form of the upcoming Karate Kid: Legends.

A Sequel To Jackie Chan’s 2010 The Karate Kid Was In Development After Its Box Office Success

The Project Got Stuck In Production Hell

Although it did not immediately receive a direct sequel, 2010’s The Karate Kid did have a sequel in development much earlier than the 2020s. This version of the movie, which was put into development shortly after it premiered, was set to feature Jaden Smith’s Dre Parker returning alongside Jackie Chan as Mr. Han. However, it took until April 2014 for the project to get a director in Breck Eisner, who was then fresh off of 2010’s The Crazies and has since helmed the 2015 Vin Diesel movie The Last Witch Hunter and 14 episodes of The Expanse.

This delay in attaching a director belied the production problems that would eventually see the project disintegrate. Just two months after Eisner’s attachment was announced, he dropped the project due to a scheduling conflict with The Last Witch Hunter and screenwriters Jeremiah Friedman and Nick Palmer replaced Zak Penn, who had already replaced Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris. Afterward, the sequel spent years in production hell and was eventually scrapped.

Per LRM Online, in 2017, Jackie Chan spoke to The San Francisco Chronicle about the project and how much time had pᴀssed between installments, remarking that “[Jaden Smith is] not a kid anymore. You cannot [call it] The Karate Man. I don’t know.“

What The Previous Karate Kid’s Sequel Would’ve Been About

The Story Was Kept Under Wraps

Although multiple reports confirmed that both Smith and Chan were attached to the project when it was in development, not much is known about the story that the sequel would have followed beyond the fact that it would reteam Dre Parker and Mr. Han. In that same 2017 interview with The San Francisco Chronicle, Chan shared his opinion that the original script was not very good, but he did not reveal any plot details from the scrapped screenplay.

The Karate Kid Is Only Now Getting A Sequel Thanks To Cobra Kai

The Streaming Series Revived Interest In The Franchise

Although the sequel to the 2010 remake failed to come to fruition, the Karate Kid franchise returned to original legacy characters Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), among others, for the sequel series Cobra Kai, which aired on various streaming platforms for a total of six seasons between 2018 and 2025. The show was a streaming hit, setting multiple records, including becoming Netflix’s most-watched series in September 2020 after debuting on the platform the month before.

While many Cobra Kai characters will not be appearing in Karate Kid: Legends, nor will Dre Parker, the sequel to 2010’s The Karate Kid was finally able to come to fruition thanks to Cobra Kai reigniting widespread interest in the franchise. In addition to arriving in theaters just months after the series finale of Cobra Kai, the 2025 movie will unite Mr. Han with Daniel LaRusso in an effort to appeal to both fans of the streaming series and the 2010 remake, following the characters training a new student, New York City transplant Li Fong (Ben Wang).

Source(s): The San Francisco Chronicle (via LRM Online)