Karate Kid remake - production photos released.

[Cmndr J Crichton]

http://www.darkhorizons.com/ The teaser is out! Click on the link to the right of the page. My god, it looks horrible. The only good thing that might come of this is a release of the originals on Blu Ray. Did we really need a Star Wars reference in this? The original came out a year after Jedi was released, and didn't rely on pop culture references. So they went from Wax on, Wax off to Jacket on, to Jacket off? So many jokes...must...resist...urge....

[Kibbin]

I've gotta say that from the trailer it doesn't look that bad, didn't like the music in the background but then that's not my cupt o' tea.
It does seem a bit odd to be going to china to do this but then it will set it apart from the first movie and make it at least a little bit different.
I didn't mind the jacket on, jacket off thing. It's no different from wax on wax off in terms of cheese and seems to become apparant much earlier on so we don't get such a long drawn out 'this guys and idiot and doesn't know what he's doing' bit.

[Kegg]

DeMille made many films twice. One even three times, IIRC (The Squaw Man or whatever, I'd have to look it up.)

Hitchcock remade The Man Who Knew Too Much. And so on and so forth.

Captain Craig wrote:

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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?

Again, aren't you a fan of comic book movies? That's pretty much the same deal, only not with movies. I cannot wrap my head around someone being so fundamentally opposed to unoriginality in Hollywood but wanting Batman, Iron Man, Plastic Man, etc. films.

I honestly do not understand the logic of this. Even if you'd argue these stories are worthwhile to add to the screen, it can't be asserted that such movies are original in the same way you accuse Avatar of being unoriginal (Iron Man is basically note-for-note every other comic book movie of the past decade, plus a little Bond.)

So, what do you want? Really now?

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 completely different kettle of fish.

It's an original film in the sense it has no previous brand identity, like all those remakes do. You know, in the way Battlestar Galactica is the opposite of Avatar, it uses brand name value to make something very different from the previous show and carve out its own particular niche of sci-fi TV.

On topic:
I dimly remember the Karate Kid, but not enough to want to watch this.

[Cmndr J Crichton]

It seems like the studio execs thought we wouldn't notice the anomaly of a movie called The Karate Kid set in China. The just said, 'Screw it! Call it the Karate Kid, and it'll make money!' It might've had a chance when they were going to call it 'The Kung Fu Kid', but by changing the name, millions of people like me are going to not see it, if they haven't already made that decision before the title change. What would've made sense, is having Ralph Machio be the teacher of a troubled kid, making a sequel to Karate Kid III. The movie could've opened with the death of Mr. Myagi, leaving Daniel taking care of his final wishes. It could've been a great tribute to the series, but it turned into 'Daddy, I want a starring role!' situation.

So the day this movie comes out, I'm staying home, and watching the original.

[Dusty Ayres]

Dennis wrote:

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DeMille made "The Ten Commandments" twice.

There you go. And MGM made Rose Mariethree times as a showcase for different singers/actors. Not to mention the three versions of Night Must Fall, or the second version of Cat People (I'd love to see a third version where the cat thing is actually a super solider whose killing instinct is triggered by the sexual act) or the two other versions of King Kong.

Cmndr J Crichton wrote:

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The movie could've opened with the death of Mr. Myagi, leaving Daniel taking care of his final wishes. It could've been a great tribute to the series, but it turned into 'Daddy, I want a starring role!' situation.

How do you know that Jaden bugged his daddy to get him the part in this movie?

It's possible that he auditioned for it, or was recommended.

Kung-Fu Kid would be better.

[Mr. Adventure]

People need to make peace with the idea that everything will be remade eventually, it makes things much easier. Any movie over 25 years old is going to be especially ripe for consideration, I mean that's a "golden oldie" now.

Doesn't mean you have to endorse the film, heck, I'm still on the fence about going back to Kirk and Spock but rallying against remakes on principle alone seems futile. Just don't go see those films.

This one seems to be taking a different path than the original one did, a lot more with the Asian culture from the looks of it. It looks like Jackie is finally settling into getting older and taking more appropriate roles, some of his later films were really streching things.

Jetfire wrote:

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Kung-Fu Kid would be better.

I think that title has a good ring to it too but I guess that name recognition thing is too much.

It would have been cool to get Hilary Swank in the movie.

I liked her in The Next Karate Kid.

[firehawk12]

I don't get why this isn't set in Japan. It makes no sense.

Hell, cast Jackie Chan as a Japanese person... it's not like most people can tell the difference anyway.

[CorporalClegg]

Meh.

I'll probably watch it eventually once it's on the movie channels and I haven't anything better to do.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Hell, I'll go see a remake of Short Circuit - the original wasn't all that good, but the premise is entertaining.

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

The little "girl" friend in the bottom picture looks like she could take on this keep and sweep the floor with him.

[Jax]

The trailer was ok but Jaden Smith looks too young and small for the part IMO. Also was Jackie Chan fighting Children in one scene

[Joel_Kirk]

This looks pretty interesting.

I noticed Rongguang Yu, an actor who shows up at lot in Hong Kong flicks, in a clip...

I'm still wondering why it will go on to be called 'The Karate Kid' if they are in Beijing, but I'm still open to how everything will eventually turn out...

[Dusty Ayres]

Samuel Walters wrote:

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More importantly, when will we see a remake of The Goonies?

We were supposed to get a sequel, with the originals as adults watching over their kids getting involved in a new adventure, but that never came off.