Karate Kid remake - production photos released.

[Captain Craig]

This is the one with Will Smiths son, Jaden. Pics at the link.

With production well under way for their remake of The Karate Kid, Columbia Pictures has revealed some new official photos of the film's leading stars Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan and Taraji P. Henson. Check them out below. Director Harald Zwart (One Night at McCool's, The Pink Panther 2) is helming from a story by Chris Murphy and Steven Conrad. Plot Concept: The new film will borrow elements of the original plot, wherein a bullied youth (Jaden Smith) learns to stand up for himself with the help of an eccentric mentor (Jackie Chan).
The Karate Kid will hit theaters June 11, 2010

I am not impressed. Wax Off.

[Aragorn]

I thought they changed the title because it has no resemblance to the original movie.

[Praxius]

I didn't like Will's kid's acting in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and I'm sure I'll hate his acting in this movie.

Seriously, what the hell happened to this world? Are they really going to haul out every single movie done in the past and recycle them for today's audience, just to make them worse then before?

What's next?

A Remake of The Princess Bride?

Little Monsters?

Gremlins?

[Aragorn]

^ Yes, those movies will all be remade. There are talks of another Amityville Horror remake... five years after the last time it was remade!!!

It's only a matter of time where two remakes of the same movie come out the same year and compete against each other. It happens in music where a cover song comes out the same year as the original.

[Harvey]

I don't know what all the fuss is about. The Karate Kid is hardly sacred ground. Rather, it was a cheap, family-friendly movie that was a surprise hit, which went back to the well for three unmemorable sequels.

Not that this new version looks any better, although Jackie Chan is an inspired choice to replace 'Pat' Morita. I don't know about Jaden Smith, but The Day The Earth Stood Still gave him an awful part as a whiney kid, so I won't judge him based on that.

[Captain Craig]

Harvey wrote:

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I don't know what all the fuss is about. The Karate Kid is hardly sacred ground. Rather, it was a cheap, family-friendly movie that was a surprise hit, which went back to the well for three unmemorable sequels.

I'm not entirely sure the fuss is about Karate Kid being sacred ground ala Psycho or Halloween, both masterpieces but were yet still remade needlessly.

I'll speak for myself here but I can't be alone.
I'm sick of seeing less original fare. As another said are they really going to remake everything from '39-'89 that had/has a built in name recognition? Seems so. Short Circuit is even being redone. Predator is shooting now. Robocop has been in redevelopment the last few years.

Heck Avatar is a retread of a common theme(ie Dances with Wolves, ST:Insurrection) but at least its trying to feel different by marketing it as a visual extravaganza vs story worth hearing(again). Not that I care to see it but its trying.

How about if they want to remake movies they take box office duds and rework those into something fresh. Seeing as how the property was done poorly the first time it leaves all the room in the world to rework and add to the script making it something better.

My guess is that in another 10yrs(minimum) some studio will be talking about remaking Rocky, Rambo, Indiana Jones, Die Hard and Terminator. Now those are some holy ground franchises but like DC Comics who never passes up a chance to redo a Crisis every 5yrs those to are bound for remakes.

[Aragorn]

Captain Craig wrote:

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How about if they want to remake movies they take box office duds and rework those into something fresh. Seeing as how the property was done poorly the first time it leaves all the room in the world to rework and add to the script making it something better.

That's what I said! Why not remake a bad movie and try to turn it into a good one? No one wants to see Cuba Gooding Jr. and Freddie Prinze Jr. attempt a Lethal Weapon remake!

Of course, I'm the only person here who thinks that the Highlander remake falls into this category.

[Nerys Myk]

The studios see bad movies as bad movies too. Sow ears and all that.

[Tomato]

Glad to see we are training our kids to get asian fever at a younger age... Bloody hell, why can't they leave a good story alone.

[Shazam!]

I do wish Will Smith's kid would get a proper haircut.

[Harvey]

Captain Craig wrote:

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I'm not entirely sure the fuss is about Karate Kid being sacred ground ala Psycho or Halloween, both masterpieces but were yet still remade needlessly.

The less said about Van Sant's Psycho, the better. I'm not convinced that Halloween is a masterpiece--it's just a fairly scary horror film that jump-started the slasher genre. And, as bad as Zombie's remake might be, it probably has more creative merit than most of the sequels to the original. John Carpenter, after all, says the only way he got through writing the screenplay to Halloween II was a lot of alcohol. And, speaking of Carpenter, we should probably remember that his remake of The Thing From Another World was probably superior to the original (and is a damned fine film in any event).

The worst that I can say about the new version of The Karate Kid is that they're taking a mediocre family film that turned into a commercial hit and making another mediocre family film that they're hoping will also be a commercial hit. And that's the kind of lazy cash-in that nobody is going to be praise.

But there are always worthy remakes. Huston's version of The Maltese Falcon was the third version of the book in something like ten or fifteen years. It's also the best version, and the only one anyone remembers (besides people like Kegg and I).

For that reason, I'm not against remakes on principle. If anything, it takes more energy (and money) to produce a remake than it does to produce another ready-made sequel.

[iguana_tonante]

Aragorn wrote:

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It's only a matter of time where two remakes of the same movie come out the same year and compete against each other. It happens in music where a cover song comes out the same year as the original.

And farther into the future, it will be just ONE movie, remade and remade, over and over again, for all eternity. And it will be: "Plan Nine from Outer Space".

I'm sorry but What the hell? I hope it bombs.

[Jax]

Familwise the movie will probably perform decent but Jaden Smith looks too young for the role, he looks younger than the original kid from the original movie or maybe just my memory.

Jax wrote:

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Familwise the movie will probably perform decent but Jaden Smith looks too young for the role, he looks younger than the original kid from the original movie or maybe just my memory.

That is because Ralph Macchio was like 22/23 when he played the role.