For as long as I can remember, The Karate Kid has been part of my movie-going memories. The original film, released in 1984, was one of the first films that I can remember seeing in a theater. I have been invested in the saga of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) ever since, following him to Okinawa, through the various All-Valley Tournaments, and finally to Netflix, where Cobra Kai has expanded the Karate Kid universe. Ironically, Macchio now plans to bring Daniel LaRusso back to theaters for a new Karate Kid movie that will team the actor with Jackie Chan, star of the 2010 remake that also included Jaden Smith. But how will Macchio’s involvement in Cobra Kai lead to the story of the new Karate Kid movie?
As of right now, The Karate Kid 6 (which is what we have been calling it) is set to arrive in theaters on May 30, 2025, which means that it likely will arrive after the conclusion of Cobra Kai Season 6. The final Cobra Kai season is going to be divided up into three chunks, the first of which arrives on July 18. So it makes sense that the final season of Cobra Kai would set up the next story in Daniel LaRusso’s journey. But that’s not the case. While traveling to the Georgia set of Cobra Kai to speak with the show’s creator, I specifically asked them how this final season will establish the movie. And co-creator Josh Heald told me:
The guys and I are not personally involved in the movie. That's a Sony feature. We kind of exist in this universe. So as we are wrapping our series, Ralph is actually going to go off to participate in that movie. But the two sides are not … our series doesn't set up the movie. The movie kind of exists in its own universe, with Jackie Chan's character and Ralph's character, and the various other characters in that story. Daniel is the piece that does tie in, but there's nothing from a storytelling or a character journey in our season that directly feeds into that project.
That’s interesting to me. And on a certain level, it makes sense. If you are going to bring a new Karate Kid movie into theaters, you might not want to create a scenario where audiences who – for whatever reason – didn’t stay up to date on Cobra Kai might feel isolated. The cast has no bleed-over from the Netflix series. Let Cobra Kai be its own thing. And that “thing” very much happens to be the evolution of Johnny Lawrence from the kid who got beat at the All-Valley to an honorable sensei, a good father, and a cherished husband.
So, it looks like you will only have to have passing knowledge of The Karate Kid series to plug back into the world when The Karate Kid 6 (or whatever it ends up being named) reaches theaters in May 2025. Until that happens, plan a trip to the movies for one of the many upcoming 2024 films that are on the calendar.
