By Sarah Sluis
The Karate Kid, the film that spawned a thousand martial arts studios in strip malls across America, is up for a remake. Will Smith's son, Jaden Smith, who made his feature film debut in last December's The 
Pursuit of Happyness, is attached to the film. The film will not be a strict remake, but borrow elements from the original plot. For those not raised on The Karate Kid, the film centered on a bullied youth who learns karate from a mentor. In between training montages, the mentor teaches him the winning moves that will help him stave off bullies, land the Girl, and win gold at a karate competition. Jaden Smith, 10, already practices martial arts, giving the production a head start--maybe he will have time to change the color of his belt before filming begins next year? While the original film had the character moving from New Jersey to California, this film plans to shoot in Beijing, China, making me think that the rewrite will make the kid's move transcontinental. Original producer Jerry Weintraub will reprise his role as a producer, along with China Film Group, which is co-producing the film.
The original franchise consisted of four films--The Karate Kid, two sequels, and The Next Karate Kid, which started over and switched genders, launching the career of Hilary Swank and preparing her for her Oscar-winning role as a fighter in Million Dollar Baby.
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