This week marks the 40th anniversary of The Karate Kid‘s release, a film that spawned a huge franchise which has undergone a rebirth in the past few years. Franchise star Ralph Macchio celebrated the occasion by sharing a new photo of Daniel LaRusso from Cobra Kai along with the announcements the final season of the hit Netflix series and the new Karate Kid film has wrapped production.
The Karate Kid starred Macchio as Daniel LaRusso, a kid from New Jersey who moved to California with his mother. After getting into trouble with some local bullies who trained in karate, Daniel meets Mr. Miyagi who takes him under his wing and teaches him his own brand of karate, eventually challenging the Cobra Kai dojo in a karate championship.
The franchise spawned two sequels starring Macchio and a continuation starring Hilary Swank as a new student of Mr. Miyagi’s. A remake starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith was also made in 2010, but the franchise became revitalized with the sequel series Cobra Kai, following William Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence, Daniel’s bully, as he tries restarting the Cobra Kai dojo and teaching kids how to stick up for themselves while reigniting his feud with Daniel. The new photo of LaRusso was taken by Cobra Kai‘s Xolo Maridueña.
On this day, June 22, 1984, the world met Daniel LaRusso. Happy 40th Anniversary to The Karate Kid. Looking ahead to one of the most exciting years yet!
Just wrapped
@CobraKaiSeries and the new @KarateKidMovie
Epic stuff on the way! #KarateKid #CobraKaiSeries
📸 by… pic.twitter.com/n4hft06AvX— Ralph Macchio (@ralphmacchio) June 22, 2024
Cobra Kai has run for six seasons and also stars Xolo Maridueña, Tanner Buchanan, Courtney Henggeler, Mary Mouser, Jacob Bertrand, Gianni DeCenzo and Peyton List. The series has also seen several of the film series’ actors return in either supporting roles or cameos, including Martin Kove as John Kreese, Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver, Yuji Okumoto as Chozen, Elizabeth Shue as Ali and Sean Kanan as Mike Barnes.
The new Karate Kid movie will see the continuities of the franchise and its 2010 remake merge as it will see Macchio reprise LaRusso as well as Jackie Chan as Mr. Han. It will also feature Ben Wang as the next Karate Kid with Joshua Jackson, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Ming-Na Wen, Sadie Stanley, Aramis Knight, Wyatt Oleff and Jennifer-Lyn Christie.
The final season of Cobra Kai has been split into three parts with Part 1 premiering on July 18th. Karate Kid will be released on May 30th, 2025.
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
