'Karate Kid' Reboot Resurfaces on Netflix's Top 10 Ahead of 'Cobra Kai' Season 4
Season 4 of Cobra Kai will be released on New Year's Eve, and fans are getting ready for the show by watching the latest Karate Kid movie. The 2010 reboot of The Karate Kid is listed among the top 10 movies on Netflix. As of this writing, The Karate Kid is ranked No. 10.
The Karte Kid stars Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan and Taraji P. Henson. Smith plays Dre Parker, a 12-year-old kid from Detriot who moves to Beijing, China, with his mother (Henson). While in Beijing, Dre gets bullied by a 14-year-old boy named Cheng until a Chinese maintenance man, Mr. Han (Chan) saves him. It leads to Han teaching Dre Kung Fu and coaching him in an open Kung Fu tournament.
The reboot is produced by Jaden Smith's parents Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. The film was a huge success, making nearly $360 million worldwide. "Dre Parker is a cool American kid who's left Detroit and now is just trying to make it in China," Jaden Smith said in a 2010 interview with Emanuel Levy. "He's definitely having a rough time – he feels like he just doesn't fit in. He doesn't mean to, but he gets on the bad side of some bullies. He's got no friends and nowhere to go, and that's when he finds out that his building's maintenance man, Mr. Han, is a kung fu master. Mr. Han teaches him kung fu, and they end up having a special bond between them."
The 2010 version of The Karate Kid has similarities to the 1984 film. But Cobra Kai is a direct sequel to the original Karate Kid series and is a huge hit for Netflix. The first two seasons premiered on YouTube, while Season 3 debuted on Netflix on New Year's Day. And the good news for Cobra Kai fans is Season 4 won't be the end as the show has been renewed for a fifth season.
"We want to deliver on that feeling, and we want to keep providing the dopamine that generates that good feeling," Cobra Kai co-creator and executive producer Josh Heald said earlier this year when talking about season 4. "We want to make sure we're delivering on goosebumps, on tears, on belly laughs and fist pumps. It's the same recipe with different tastes and everything else, but it's even bigger."