The Karate Kid is a 2010 martial arts drama film directed by Harald Zwart, and part of The Karate Kid series. It stars Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan in lead roles, and it was produced by Jerry Weintraub, James Lassiter, Ken Stovitz, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. This film does not take place in the same fictional universe as the four previous Karate Kid films, but is instead a remake of the original 1984 film with the setting moved to China, and the martial art changed (despite the film’s title) from karate to kung fu.
The plot concerns 12-year-old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith), from Detroit, Michigan, who moves to Beijing, China with his mother (Taraji P. Henson) and runs afoul of the neighborhood bully Cheng (Zhenwei Wang). He makes an unlikely ally in the form of an aging maintenance man, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), a kung fu master who teaches him the secrets of self-defense. The screenplay was written by Christopher Murphey. The film’s music was composed by James Horner. It is an international co-production between China, Hong Kong, and the United States.
Principal photography took place in Beijing, China, and filming began in July 2009 and ended on October 16, 2009. The Karate Kid was released theatrically worldwide on June 11, 2010, by Sony Pictures. The film received generally favorable reviews and earned $359 million on a $40 million budget. The film was released on June 11, 2010, by Columbia Pictures to 3,663 theaters across the United States. The Karate Kid topped the box office on its opening day, grossing $18.8 million, and in its opening weekend, grossing $56 million in North America,
beating The A-Team, which grossed an estimated $9.6 million on the same opening day, and $26 million in its opening weekend. It closed on September 18, 2010, after 101 days of release, grossing $176 million in the US and Canada along with an additional $182 million overseas for a worldwide total of $359 million, on a moderate budget of $40 million.
