Screen Rant » the karate kid

Poster Friday: Toy Story 3, Saw VI, A Christmas Carol & Many More!

Rob Keyes — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 03:20:14 +0000

Happy Friday everyone! Today we’ve again gathered the latest posters to come out for this week’s poster round-up.

Screen Rant’s wall this week now includes one-sheets for Toy Story 3, Saw VI, Paranormal Activity, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Blind Side, Dark Country, Jekyll & Hyde, The Hole, Get Low, The Descent: Part 2, The Karate Kid, The Fourth Kind, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, The Men Who Stare at Goats, and A Christmas Carol.

But that’s not all! We also have the latest sets of character banners for Where The Wild Things Are and The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Let’s get to it.

To start, here’s the first teaser poster for Toy Story 3 thanks to our friends at Latino Review:

Source: Latino Review

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Shooting Begins On Officially Retitled ‘Kung Fu Kid’

Ross Miller — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:38:24 +0000

A remake of the classic ’80s movie, The Karate Kid, is something that, when announced, was met with the same groans and “Please no!” responses (from most folks out there) similar to about every other dreaded remake. The fact that they reportedly changed the name to Kung Fu Kid, as well as the storyline that was reported being a bit on the cheesy side, didn’t exactly help matters.

Today we get the news that the title of this remake has officially been changed to Kung Fu Kid.

Admittedly it makes sense since it’s Kung Fu our lead learns and not Karate as in the original. Playing the lead is Will Smith’s son, Jayden, as a kid (would you have guessed it?) who moves to China with his mum, gets bullied at school, and eventually ends up learning Kung Fu from Mr. Han (Jackie Chan, playing the remake’s equivalent of Mr. Miyagi). I’ve said it before – it’s not the absolute worst idea in the world, but couldn’t they have conjured something a bit better?

The Harald Zwart (Pink Panther 2) directed martial arts remake actually started filming this weekend in Beijing (heck, at least they’re shooting the camera’s in the right location…), where the story it will take place in modern day. The shooting schedule of the film is set to last for three months, and to celebrate the start of production, a traditional Chinese ceremony was held on Saturday.

Jayden Smith was there at the ceremony with his father, Will, mother, Jada Pinkett, and sister, Willow. In a video shot of the ceremony put online at Sina.com, Will Smith, Chan, and Zwart, “symbolically removed a piece of red cloth covering a movie camera, after which Smith gave Chan a hug.” If you want to take a look at the ten-minute video of the ceremony, you can head here.

'Kung Fu Kid' Beijing ceremony

Even if the title change from The Karate Kid to Kung Fu Kid does distance the remake to the ’80s original, I still fear it will soil the reputation of it. I fully realize that if the remake sucks, we’ve still got the original, but as I have said on a number of occasions, today’s audiences might automatically think of this remake whenever “The Karate Kid” gets mentioned. It’s happened numerous times with all the remakes of classic horror movies (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, House of Wax, The Amityville Horror, on and on...), where most likely today’s (young) audiences will not even be aware there was one before these relentless 21st century rehashes.

I suppose that’s what the title change is for, but will the same happen with Kung Fu Kid? I believe it just might…

What do you think of this remake now officially being retitled Kung Fu Kid? Do you think there’s a chance it may turn out to be any good?

As stated, Kung Fu Kid started production last weekend in Beijing, but it doesn’t have a release date set as of yet. The film is directed by Harald Zwart, and written by Steven Conrad (The Pursuit of Happyness).

Sources: AssociatedPress, /Film, and Sina

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‘Pursuit of Happyness’ Writer Working On ‘Karate Kid’ Rewrites

Rob Frappier — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:27:41 +0000

When Screen Rant first reported that Columbia was remaking The Karate Kid, fan reaction was decidedly negative. Many people asked: Why? Why remake a film that many consider a modern classic? If you are going to remake a well-known film, why change it’s title to The Kung Fu Kid? Our subsequent coverage did little to mitigate these concerns.

Now, The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Steven Conrad, the writer of The Pursuit of Happyness, has been brought on to work on the original script by Chris Murphy. The report is unclear as to whether Conrad has been asked to make major changes to the script or simply provide some touch-ups, but given that the film is set to begin production in a month, I wonder just how much polish the script needs before it’s considered ready.

As you probably recall, The Pursuit of Happyness starred Will Smith, the father of Jayden Smith who is taking over the Ralph Maccio role from the original film. Has Conrad been brought in to recapture some of the emotional depth that helped The Pursuit of Happyness earn $300M worldwide? One of the most endearing aspects of the original Karate Kid was the sincerity of the relationship between Maccio’s character and Pat Morita’s Mr. Miyagi. Will Jackie Chan and Jayden Smith be able to recapture that dynamic?

All in all, I’m still not totally on board for a Karate Kid remake. Call me sentimental, but there’s just too much to like about the original to justify retelling the story.

What do you think? Does Conrad’s addition to the production ease some of your concerns, or are you still unsure?

Source: THR via JoBlo

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Karate Kid Remake Plot Details Revealed

Ross Miller — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:23:38 +0000

Just one of the many remakes in the works is of the classic 1980’s movie The Karate Kid, reportedly renamed the Kung Fu Kid (urgh….). Will Smith’s son Jaden has already been announced as playing this version’s Daniel (played in the original by Ralph Macchio), and Jackie Chan will be playing the remake’s Mr. Myagi (seriously…).

So what about the plot of the movie? Well, according to a couple of people who are involved with the project, it’s similar in tone to the original, but differs greatly in a lot of areas. The story is about a single mother and her son Dre (young Smith) who move to Beijing, China because of her job. Needless to say, she and Dre find it difficult adjusting and before long, Dre starts getting bullied at school.

Because of his bruises from being beaten up, the principal of the strict school he now attends thinks he has been the one picking the fights. The Mr. Myagi of the movie, who will now be called Mr. Han (played by Chan), is the maintenance man of the building Dre and his mother are living. After noticing Dre practicing martial arts in front of a video game, as well as his black eye, he agrees to train him in Kung Fu, as well as helping him learn Chinese.

For the full plot synopsis you can visit the MovieHole link at the end of the post.

I have said it before and I’ll say it again: This is a movie that does not need to be remade. Although, of course, we’ll still have the original there if the remake ends up being bad, but it may lead a whole generation of movie goers to think of this movie when the name “Karate Kid” gets brought up.

Of course, the reported name change to the Kung Fu Kid may remedy that, but that then removes a lot of the name recognition it would have had if they had just kept it as The Karate Kid. To me it’s a lose-lose situation and I see little about it that defines it as worthwhile.

The plot outline they’ve got for it isn’t necessarily the worst idea in the world, but is it me or does it seem a little bit cheesy? Undoubtedly the same could be said about the original, but it has to be remembered that that was in the ’80s, a very different movie-going age than what we have today. The cheesiness of the original, and many other movies from that time is readily accepted nowadays looking back because that’s the era they came from, and the cheesiness is most likely held as part of it’s charm.

It sounds like they’re trying to replicate the flavor of the original while putting a modern stamp on it. That, added to the fact that Harald Zwart (Agent Cody Banks, Pink Panther 2) is directing and first-timer Chris Murphy is writing, I just don’t know if it is going to work out.

What do you think of the plot put together for this remake? Are you in favor of a remake of it at all?

The Karate Kid remake (supposedly entitled the Kung Fu Kid) is hoped to be released sometime next year.

Source: MovieHole

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‘The Karate Kid’ Remake Retitled ‘The Kung Fu Kid’

Ross Miller — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:30:24 +0000

The trend of messing with our childhoods just seems to keep steam rolling on, no matter how much complaining fans do. One of the latest is a remake of the 1984 classic, The Karate Kid. The news recently broke that Will Smith’s son, Jaden, will be starring in the lead role, with Jackie Chan starring as the updated version of Mr Miyagi. It’s also come to light that this film won’t be a remake of the original: the screenplay will “borrow elements” from the original film but is not a remake.

And, to make that difference clear, the filmmakers have gone so far as to rename the film. So what are they renaming it? Well, according to Chan: “They don’t want to call it Karate Kid any more… They want to call it The Kung Fu Kid.”

So they’re remaking The Karate Kid, fine. And they’re casting Will Smith’s son as the titular character, okay. And they’ve even got Jackie Chan as the new Mr. Miyagi, great! But The Kung Fu Kid? Are they serious?! The filmmakers must’ve been reading all of the movie websites (such as our very own Screen Rant) to cover their backs with that one, eh?…

Film Drunk mentioned The Kung Fu Kid as a possible title for the project over a year ago, but now it’s looking like that’s what it’s going to be. With it the filmmakers have kind of neutered themselves, contradicting themselves in the most stupid of ways: they’re remaking a famous film, presumably hoping to capitalize on the name recognition of those who loved the original as kids, and then they go and give it a different title, effectively removing said name recognition.

Our friends over at First Showing point out the fact that the martial art of Karate actually has some of its historical roots in Kung Fu, so the reason they may be changing the name instead is to be more “culturally relevant and accurate.”

Hmmm, okay, I guess I can buy that – but you gotta’ admit, the title of The Kung Fu Kid sounds pretty silly, to say the least.

The Karate Kid is one of those movies that gets overshadowed by its many sequels (which steadily diminished in quality from the original). And much like the Rocky series, people seem to forget that the original Karate Kid film wasn’t just one of those fun, entertaining, “you like it because you remember it from childhood” type of movies; it’s actually a respectable film of decent quality that even got nominated for an Oscar (for Pat Morita’s legendary performance as Mr. Miyagi).

It’s yet another one of those classic movies that just doesn’t need another sequel, let alone a remake “re-imagining.” Didn’t Hollywood learn from the tried and failed The Next Karate Kid?

What are your thoughts on the title The Kung Fu Kid, and about the general notion of them doing another Karate Kid?

Sources: FirstShowing.net, /Film and Filmdrunk

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Jackie Chan IS Mr. Miyagi: Please, No…

Jamie Williams — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:26:53 +0000

I realize there’s been this whole resurgence of 80s nostalgia going on lately (what with properties like Transformers and G.I. Joe becoming major film franchises and a possible resurrection of Ghostbusters to name a few!)

But the fact that The Karate Kid is getting remade makes me feel…old. *Gasp!*

Considering that Jaden Smith has been cast as the lead, it was only a matter of time before the filmmakers found an actor to fill the shoes of the late Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi.

The folks over at Entertainment Weekly have confirmed that Jackie Chan will play the new Miyagi to Smith’s Daniel-san (or whatever character he’ll be playing!)

Mind you, I have nothing against Chan personally.

I was always “Meh!” towards the Rush Hour films, and haven’t sat through too terribly many of his action films from Hong-Kong.

But, I digress, ladies and germs.

Does anyone really care about a Karate Kid remake?

Source: Entertainment Weekly

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Jaden Smith Is The New Karate Kid

Carl Lee — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:07:10 +0000

Columbia Pictures has decided to set out to destroy another classic.

They plan to remake the 1984 hit The Karate Kid, and want Jaden Smith to star as the new Daniel-san.

That’s right, Jaden Smith, the 10-year-old son daddy Will Smith keeps forcing onto us.

Variety is finally reporting that Jerry Weintraub is linking with Overbrook Entertainment’s James Lassiter, Will Smith and Ken Stovitz to butcher his own original franchise. I say “finally” because IGN broke this (albeit as a fairly solid rumor) over a year ago.

Overbrook and Escape Artists did produce The Pursuit of Happyness for Columbia, so there’s a glimmer of hope that this could be decent. But then again in that case, it couldn’t have been too terribly difficult for Jaden to play son to his actual dad.

Chris Murphy is writing the script, and the new film will be shot sometime next year. It’s set to take place in a number of cities but primarily in Beijing, where the dominant marital art is Kung Fu. It’s also said to borrow elements from the original, where a kid moves to a new city and ends up being bullied by the locals, who eventually learns to stand up for himself with the help of a mentor.

I have number of problems with this announcement, but one item specifically: Why Beijing? Maybe Columbia hopes we’ll be enchanted by a military brat who is bullied by Kung Fu practicing locals and finds some Mr. Miyagi to teach him to fight back–kind of like The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

We all know how that turned out.

Some other details that should be noted include: Will Smith Jr. is a martial arts practitioner himself, and Mr. Miyagi has not been cast. I would suspect the mentor will be an outsider to Beijing, as Mr. Miyagi was to Los Angeles, but either way I don’t have a good feeling about this film.

Do we really need another Karate Kid?

Source: Variety

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