Continuing the “Why remake that?!” theme: The Karate Kid

Hi all…

So Columbia Pictures is remaking The Karate Kid, and it’s going to star Jaden Smith as the kid and Jackie Chan as the “Mr. Miagi”-like role. (Announced last night at Variety.)

Why do we continue to see remakes for movies that don’t really need to be remade? Because it’ll make money of course. Will Smith‘s son plus Jackie Chan = $$$$ in the eyes of producers I guess.

But I have to wonder what they’re going to do. It’s the same story as before. A kid is bullied by kids at school and learns to fight his own battles (physically and philosophically) with the help of an eccentric older mentor.

What kills me in this one is that Jerry Weintraub, who launched the original 1984 movie (dang I feel old), is producing the new one. The 1984 version starred a young Ralph Macchio (who’s not looking great in his older years – he’s appearing in the weird movie Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead set to come out later this year and time has not been kind) and Pat Morita (a classy older asian dude who unfortunately passed away in 2005). Why Weintraub sees the need to trash the 1984 version (which in my demented mind was a great movie as seen by me at age 14) by redoing it is beyond me.

But the remake bandwagon rolls on… This isn’t one I’ll be lining up to see.

–Fitz

Related articles by Zemanta

• Jaden Smith Will Become the New The Karate Kid