The Karate Kid is an American martial artsdrama franchise created by Robert Mark Kamen. The series follows the journey of various coming-of-age teenagers who are taught in the ways of martial arts by an experienced mentor in order to stand up for themselves after being bullied, or assert their dominance towards others.
Cobra Kai (2018–2025) offers a continuation of the story that begins in the original films of the 1980s and 1990s created, three decades later. While directly based on Kamen's characters, Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg created this series.
An animated series, as well as tie-in video games among other pieces of merchandise, have also been released alongside the films.
Daniel LaRusso and his mother have just moved to Reseda, Los Angeles from Newark, New Jersey at the start of the school year. Befriending classmate Ali Mills, he comes into conflict with Ali's ex-boyfriend and star pupil of the "Cobra Kai" dojo Johnny Lawrence and his gang. After being beaten up by the Cobra Kai gang in an after-school fight, Daniel finds an unlikely friend and karate sensei in his apartment complex's handyman, Mr. Miyagi, a proficient karate master. Making a deal with Johnny's merciless sensei, John Kreese, to end the fighting, Miyagi trains Daniel to compete at the All-Valley Karate Tournament.
Immediately following the All-Valley Karate Tournament, Johnny is attacked by his furious sensei, John Kreese, in the parking lot. Mr. Miyagi intervenes, rescuing Johnny and passively humiliating Kreese in the process. Six months later, Miyagi receives a letter about his ailing father and plans to return to his home village on Okinawa Island. With Daniel in tow, Miyagi's past catches up with him as an old rivalry with a former friend is reignited.
Six months after the 1984 All-Valley Karate Tournament, a down-and-out John Kreese visits his Vietnam War comrade, rich businessman Terry Silver. Silver sends Kreese on vacation to Tahiti, promising to re-establish the Cobra Kai dojo and get revenge on Daniel and Mr. Miyagi. Meanwhile, Daniel and Miyagi have returned home from Okinawa to find Daniel's apartment building being demolished and his mother back in New Jersey taking care of a sick relative; Miyagi invites Daniel to stay with him. When Miyagi refuses to train Daniel to defend his title at the tournament, Daniel happens across Silver who offers to train him Cobra Kai-style.
Mr. Miyagi (the only character from the previous films to return) travels to Boston, Massachusetts in order to attend a commemorative service in for the Japanese-American soldiers who fought in the 442nd Infantry Regiment in World War II. While there, he reacquaints with Louisa Pierce, the widow of his commanding officer. Louisa introduces him to his rebellious teenage granddaughter Julie, whose anger issues – resulting from her parents' deaths – make life difficult for Louisa. Offering to help, Miyagi sends Louisa to his home in Los Angeles for respite while he works to mentor Julie. Julie initially rebuffs Miyagi's help, but warms to him after coming into conflict with the leader of her school's shady security fraternity, Ned.
In this remake of the 1984 film (later retconned, placing it in the same fictional universe of the original films), Dre Parker and his mother move from Detroit to Beijing after she transfers jobs from a car factory in the city. He befriends Meiying, a young musician who goes to his school, but draws the unwanted attention of Cheng, a kung fu prodigy whose family is close to Meiying's. Cheng and his friends relentlessly bully Dre at school to keep him away from Meiying, resulting in a fight on a school field trip where Dre is beaten up before being saved by his apartment building's maintenance man, Mr. Han. After failing to end the bullying by talking with Cheng's ruthless kung fu teacher, Mr. Han agrees to train Dre to compete at an upcoming kung fu tournament.
A sequel to both the 2010 film and the original films, Mr. Han’s great-nephew and student Li Fong moves from Beijing to New York City with his mother after the death of his brother in a kung fu-related attack. Li befriends Mia Lipani, daughter of pizza shop owner and former local boxing champion Victor Lipani, bringing him into conflict with Mia’s ex-boyfriend Connor Day, a local karate champion. Li trains Victor in kung fu to aid him in a boxing match to pay off his debts, but following Victor's illegal defeat he decides to enter the Five Boroughs Karate Tournament with Mr. Han's encouragement. Mr. Han visits Daniel LaRusso and invites him to New York to train Li in both karate and kung fu for the Five Boroughs.
In this animatedchildren's television series, a miniature shrine with mystical properties has been stolen from its resting place in Okinawa. Joined by Taki Tamurai, Daniel and Mr. Miyagi are tasked with locating it and returning it home, traveling the globe on a series of adventures. The characters were not voiced by the original film actors, although Pat Morita voiced the opening narration.
With regard to Cobra Kai, executive producer and co-creator Jon Hurwitz revealed the animated series is not canon,[1] however the shrine from the series appeared as an easter egg in Chozen Toguchi's Okinawa dojo during the third season of Cobra Kai.[2]
34 years after the 1984 All-Valley Karate Tournament, a down-and-out Johnny Lawrence, now in his 50s, has just lost his job. After getting arrested for rescuing his teenage neighbor Miguel Diaz from a group of bullies, then getting cut-loose and disowned by his stepfather, Johnny agrees to teach Miguel karate and reopens the Cobra Kai dojo, attracting social outcasts who build their self-confidence under his unorthodox tutelage. Meanwhile, Daniel LaRusso owns a successful chain of car dealerships and is happily married to his wife Amanda but struggles to keep a balanced life without the guidance of his now-deceased mentor, Mr. Miyagi. Johnny's estranged and troubled son, Robby Keene, hoping to get back at his father, comes under Daniel's wing – initially not knowing Robby's parentage – giving Robby a job at his car dealership and teaching him Miyagi-Do karate. Daniel and Johnny come into conflict after Cobra Kai's return is made public, while Daniel's daughter Samantha gets caught in the middle.
According to Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, the only characters that they would explore in the series were ones who featured in the first four films. The creatives stated that they internally reference these characters as a part of the "Miyagi-verse", and explained that they are those who interacted directly with Mr. Miyagi.[3]
The Karate Kid is a semi-autobiographical story based on the life of its screenwriter, Robert Mark Kamen. At age 17, after the 1964 New York World's Fair, Kamen was beaten up by a gang of bullies. He thus began to study martial arts in order to defend himself.[4] Kamen was unhappy with his first teacher, who taught martial arts as a tool for violence and revenge. He moved on to study OkinawanGōjū-ryū karate under a Japanese teacher who did not speak English, but was himself a student of Chōjun Miyagi.[4]
As a Hollywood screenwriter, Kamen was mentored by Frank Price who told him that producer Jerry Weintraub had optioned a news article about the young child of a single mother who had earned a black belt to defend himself against the neighborhood bullies. Kamen then combined his own life story with the news article and used both to create the screenplay for The Karate Kid.[4] Additionally, given John G. Avildsen's involvement with both films, Sylvester Stallone often joked with Kamen that the writer had "ripped off" the Rocky films with The Karate Kid.[4]
DC Comics had a character called Karate Kid, who was created in 1966. The filmmakers received special permission from DC Comics in 1984 to use the title for the first film and subsequent sequels.[5]
The studio originally wanted the role of Mr. Miyagi to be played by Toshiro Mifune, who had appeared in the Akira Kurosawa films Rashomon (1950), Seven Samurai (1954), and The Hidden Fortress (1958), but Mifune did not speak English.[4]Pat Morita later auditioned for the role, but was rejected for the part due to his close association with stand-up comedy and with his character Arnold on the sitcom Happy Days.[4] After a few failed attempts, Morita grew a beard and patterned his accent after his uncle, which led to him being cast in the role.[9]
Abandoned projects
In a 2020 interview with Collider, William Zabka revealed that Pat Morita pitched him an idea in 2005, for a fifth film. The plot would have revolved around Johnny Lawrence who is now a doctor and tasked with caregiving for Mr. Miyagi; who is in the final stages of his life and whose health is failing him. During the early days of development, Morita died and the project was abandoned.[10]
In January 2022, Ralph Macchio revealed that he had previously been approached in 2012 about the potential for a The Karate Kid and Rockycrossover film. Intended to be directed by John G. Avildsen, the plot would have involved Daniel LaRusso's daughter and Rocky Balboa, Jr. opening a dojo together. Macchio stated that he and Milo Ventimiglia were pitched the idea, but described the concept as "awful". After Macchio expressed his disinterest in the story, the project subsequently fell into development hell before being abandoned in favor of Creed and Cobra Kai.[11]
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Critical and public response
Except for the 1984 and 2010 films, the other films in the franchise received mixed or negative reviews. Cobra Kai received a consistently positive reception.
In January 2020, a Broadwaymusical adaptation of The Karate Kid was revealed to be in development. Amon Miyamoto serves as director, with an accompanying novel being written by the original film's screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen. Drew Gasparini serves as the lyricist and composer of the score, while Keone & Mari Madrid choreograph the play. Kumiko Yoshii, Michael Wolk serve as producers, with The Kinoshita Group. The cast includes Jovanni Sy as Mr. Miyagi, John Cardoza as Daniel LaRusso, Kate Baldwin as Lucille LaRusso, Alan H. Green as John Kreese, Jake Bentley Young as Johnny Lawrence, Jetta Juriansz as Ali Mills and Luis-Pablo Garcia as Freddie Fernandez.[53] The opening date has yet to be announced.[54]
Merchandise
The film spawned a franchise of related items and memorabilia such as action figures, head bands, posters, and T-shirts. A novelization was written by B. B. Hiller and published in 1984. The novel had a scene that was in the rehearsal when Daniel encounters Johnny during school at lunch. Also at the end, there was a battle between Miyagi and Kreese in the parking lot after the tournament which was the original ending for the film and used as the beginning of The Karate Kid Part II. Hiller would also write novelizations for the second and third films. A storybook based on the second film, written by Christopher Brown, was also released.[55] On May 7, 2019, The Karate Kid: The Classic Illustrated Storybook was published by Quirk Books under their Pop Classics series. It retold the events of the first film with art by Kim Smith.
In 2015, toy company Funko revived The Karate Kid action figures. Two versions of character Daniel Larusso, a version of character Johnny Lawrence and a version of Mr. Miyagi were part of the line. The toys were spotted at retailers Target and Amazon.com.[56]
In 2021 and 2022, the toy company Playmates Toys released a series of crossover Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vs. Cobra Kai two packs which featured two action figures, one character from each respective franchise, in opposition to each other.[57]
In 2023, the toy company Hasbro released a series of Power Rangers X Cobra Kai crossover action figures that tied characters of both franchises together. Cobra Kai characters like Daniel Larusso and Johnny Lawrence wore ninja outfits similar to the Ninjetti/Ninja Mode costumes from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' 1995 film and third season, while Putty Patrollers wore skeleton Halloween costumes like those worn by the Cobra Kai gang as seen in the first Karate Kid film.[58]
In 2023, Asmodee released the board game Cobra Kai: Road to Victory.[59]
Characters and elements from Cobra Kai have appeared in the Roblox experience Netflix Nextworld.[64]
On September 20, 2024, a 2D sprite-art-based beat 'em up game based on the original film trilogy, titled The Karate Kid: Street Rumble, was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and Windows via Steam.[65]
Comic book
A 4-issue comic book miniseries entitled Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues - Johnny's Story was published by IDW Publishing and released between October 2019 and January 2020,[66] and was subsequently collected in trade paperback on July 8, 2020.[67] It was written by Denton J. Tipton, with art by Kagan McLeod and colors by Luis Antonio Delgado.
Books
In 2022, Ralph Macchio published the memoir Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me (Dutton), in which he reflects upon the making of and legacy of the Karate Kid films and Cobra Kai.[68] Also in 2022, the behind-the-scenes book The Kick-A** Book of Cobra Kai was written by Rachel Bertsche and published by HarperCollins.[69]
Notes
↑ YouTube Red was the original distributor for season 1 of Cobra Kai.
↑ YouTube Premium was the original distributor for season 2 of Cobra Kai.
↑ $100 million up until 1985.[12] 2018 and 2019 re-releases grossed $400,529.[13][14]
↑ The original trilogy grossed $300 million worldwide up until 1994.[15] Between 2018 and 2020, the original film grossed a further $400,529 in the United States and Canada,[13][14] and $42,257 in the United Kingdom and Australia.[16]
References
↑ Hurwitz, Jon (September 24, 2020). "Twitter: Jon Hurwitz". Twitter. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
↑ Empire — January 2022 Edition — "The Comeback Kid" — Alex Godfrey Speaks to Ralph Macchio (published November 24, 2021)
↑ Thomas, Bob (November 6, 1985). "The Karate Kid Returns". AP News. Associated Press. Retrieved June 8, 2020. "The Karate Kid" surprised almost everyone by amassing a domestic gross of $100 million. That's phenomenal for a modest film with no stars and a title that sounded like a combination of Bruce Lee and a kidflick.
↑ McNally, Owen (September 8, 1994). "'Next Karate Kid' Has A New Face". Hartford Courant. Retrieved January 27, 2021. Now she's the kid everyone roots for in this money-making series that has already grossed $300 million worldwide.
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