The next instalment in The Karate Kid franchise has scored a new title. Hollywood Handle announced the title in a post on X, or Twitter, or Instagram… one of those things. It will arrive after the third slice of Cobra Kai season 6 has been released.
The movie will be called Karate Kid: Legends. Sounds like a video game.
Ralph Macchio returns from the original movies and Cobra Kai, alongside Jackie Chan’s Han from the remake. Ben Fong, Joshua Jackson, Ming-Na Wen, Shaunette Renée-Wilson, and Aramis Knight all co-star.
It is directed by directed by Jonathan Entwistle and written by Rob Lieber. It is the first film in the series not to be produced by Jerry Weintraub, who died in 2015.
A sequel to the 2010 remake was announced shortly after its release with Jaden Smith, Taraji P. Henson, and Chan set to reprise their roles. Breck Eisner was tapped to direct in April 2014. Then it all fell apart after two more drafts of the screenplay by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, and then Zak Penn. Eisner dropped out.
A new script was commissioned by Jeremiah Friedman and Nick Palmer. Then Eisner returned to the project in April 2017. However, that October Chan expressed dissatisfaction with the script.
The project bumped along in development hell until September 2022 when a new feature film was confirmed to be in development, described as:
“The return of the original Karate Kid franchise.”
In August 2023, Chan was confirmed to be reprising his role in the film, with Chan and Macchio officially unveiled a few weeks later. The announcement also confirmed that the original films, the remake, and the Cobra Kai series all take place in the same universe.
In November 2023 it was reported that Jonathan Entwistle was set to direct the film, with a screenplay written by Rob Lieber and with Karen Rosenfelt serving as the producer.
Filming began in April 2024 and wrapped in June.
Karate Kid: Legends is scheduled to be released on May 30th, 2025 in the United States and Canada.