The creator of Cobra Kai has confirmed the newly announced Karate Kid movie will not be connected to the Netflix series. The Karate Kid opened in theaters in 1984 and became an instant classic spawning two direct sequels with The Karate Kid Part II in 1986 and The Karate Kid Part III in 1989. Columbia Pictures, the distributors behind the franchise tried to keep the brand alive with the spin-off film The Next Karate Kid in 1994 and a reboot in 2010 that stared Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY
In 2018 the franchise continued with the series Cobra Kai on YouTube Red. The series saw the return of popular fan-favorite actors like William Zabka, Ralph Macchio, and Martin Kove reprising their iconic characters from the original trilogy while also introducing a new cast of young characters. Cobra Kai was a hit with audiences and critics, and after season 2 the series was picked up by Netflix where its viewership reached a wider audience and has become one of the streamer's biggest series. Cobra Kai just premiered its fifth season on Netflix on September 9, 2022, and while there is no official confirmation on season 6 the creative team seems confident it will happen.
The series' popularity led many to believe the recently announced Karate Kid movie that Sony dated for release on June 7, 2024, was going to be connected to Cobra Kai in some form. However, according to Jon Hurwitz, one of the creators of Cobra Kai, it appears the movie has no connection to the series and the creators are not involved at all. Hurwitz did reveal he would still love to make a Cobra Kai movie someday. Read Hurwitz's tweet below:
The decision to continue the Karate Kid series but not make it connected to the popular television series that already continued the franchise is a head-scratcher. When the film was announced by Sony, they noted it "would return to the original Karate Kid franchise". It is currently unclear if the upcoming film now will follow Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi in a split-off timeline similar to the new Halloween trilogy, or if they will just focus on a different group of characters in the same universe of Karate Kid in a fashion similar to The Bourne Legacy.
Sony appears to be approaching the Karate Kid franchise similarly to both Spider-Man and Ghostbusters. Sony has the Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man film series, the animated Spider-Verse films, and the interconnected universe of films that includes Venom, Morbius, and the upcoming Kraven the Hunter named Sony's Spider-Man Universe. The studio also has both a sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife set for release in 2023 and an animated Ghostbusters movie in the works to expand the franchise out. Sony now seems to want the Karate Kid brand to continue across different platforms, on both televisions with Cobra Kai and the big screen in a new film series.