The New Karate Kid?

Will Smith will produce a remake of 1984 martial-arts flick The Karate Kid, with his son Jaden Smith in the lead role.

Chris Murphy , who wrote the original movie, is writing the new remake. Production will commence in Beijing next year.

However, the role of mentor Mr. Miyagi has yet to be cast. Pat Morita, who played the original Miyagi, passed away in 2005.

First off, I'm a Will Smith and the origianl movie kicked butt (I loved the Cobra Kai- more on the real guy who played him later).

Fear of a bad movie is not what I'm thinking about. It will be the rest of the Martial Arts industry that will latch onto this remake.

It all started in 1984. The Karate kid was released. This is at the time Tae Kwon Do and the new martial arts business model was born. I actually began training in TKD at this time since my brother was an instructor. I have to tell you, it was hard not to make money during these times. People were dragging their kids to anything that looked remotely Asian. It was a huge boost to the martial arts business, but times are different.

Last year when Kung Fu Panda was released I got a TON of flyers and direct mailings telling me that Kung Fu Panda was the next Karate kid.

Well after one month in the theater, it wasn't. Movies are different now. For them to have any impact it has to be GREAT or have a lot of $$$$ behind it.

Good movie, bad movie- it won't stop you from getting inundated with ideas how to turn that into $$$ for your studio.

Rest assured, if your positioned correctly in your area like we do with the Instructors- they will find you.
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