Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio are set to star in a new Karate Kid movie, currently penciled in for release on December 13th, 2024.
Chan and Macchio will reprise their respective characters of Mr. Han from 2010’s The Karate Kid and Daniel LaRusso from the original Karate Kid trilogy and hit Netflix series Cobra Kai.
The announcement comes via a video revealing a global casting call for the next Karate Kid, a character named Li Fong. The role calls for a Chinese actor between 15 and 17 years old who speaks fluent English and is “smart, scrappy, and a skilled martial artist.”
Directed by Jonathan Entwistle (The End of the F***ing World), the movie was originally announced by Sony Pictures last year with a June 7th, 2024 release date. Details about the script, written by Rob Lieber, are being kept under wraps.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, however, the story will take place in the East Coast and “focus on a teen from China who finds strength and direction via martial arts and a tough but wise mentor.”
Previously having been billed as a “return to the original Karate Kid franchise,” the new movie will tie the 2010 reboot — in which Chan played a kung fu master who mentors Jaden Smith’s 12-year-old character Dre Parker — into a greater Karate Kid universe. In Cobra Kai, Macchio reprises his role from the original Karate Kid films alongside William Zabka as Johnny Lawrence. Earlier this year, the show was renewed for a sixth and final season, but was delayed to the now-resolved writers strike.
