'Two branches, one tree': How 'Karate Kid: Legends' expands the Miyagi-verse
"I feel very Luke Skywalker," Macchio says with a laugh before taking the stage at CinemaCon to talk about the franchise's next chapter, "Karate Kid: Legends" (in theaters May 30).
After three 1980s "Karate Kid" movies where Macchio's Daniel LaRusso learns from Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) – and more recently six seasons of Netflix's "Cobra Kai," where Daniel makes peace with former rival Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) – the Miyagi-Do sensei expands his world view in "Legends." Daniel meets kung fu master Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), from the 2010 "Karate Kid" reboot, as well as new karate kid Li Fong (Ben Wang) in the movie, which premiered its new trailer Tuesday.
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Li is a kung fu prodigy learning under his shifu Han in China when Li and his mom (Ming-Na Wen) relocate to New York City to attend a prestigious school. But Li struggles to find his way, befriending a classmate (Sadie Stanley) but making enemies of a feared karate foe (Aramis Knight). When Li enters the Five Boroughs karate tournament, Han ventures to Southern California to find Daniel, thinking the best way for his student to win is to combine kung fu skills with Miyagi karate.
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See the new 'Karate Kid: Legends' trailer
Is 'Karate Kid: Legends' connected to 'Cobra Kai'?
Macchio, 63, an executive producer on the new movie as well as "Cobra Kai," describes "Legends" as "a different ecosystem" within the Miyagi-verse. "You have this story of this new kid in a new land that draws on all the themes of the original 'Karate Kid': bullying, single parenting, dealing with loss, overcoming obstacles, good over evil, martial arts and finding your center and grounding yourself."
It's also set "a couple years" after the end of "Cobra Kai," as Han knocks on Daniel's door to pay homage to his old sensei and reveal a longtime connection. "The Han family and the Miyagi family knew each other over history," Macchio says. Or, as he puts it: "Two branches, one tree."
Wang arrives into the Miyagi-verse "first and foremost" as a fan, says the 25-year-old "American Born Chinese" star, picked to be the next "Karate Kid" from among thousands of submissions as part of a global search. He was 10 and "the target audience" when the "Karate Kid" film with Chan and Jaden Smith came out, Wang recalls. "In fact, that's around the time of my life when I started doing martial arts. So now thinking back, maybe that had something to do with it."
Wang got into the Macchio films because his aunt's favorite movie is the original "Karate Kid" from 1984. But one big difference between Li and Daniel is that the former makes his franchise debut with martial-arts experience under his belt. "Because this kid isn't starting from zero, you get to sell fights that are more advanced than what you would be able to do in a movie where the kid starts from nothing," Wang says.
So Li's well past where Daniel started with "Wax on, wax off." Yet all the "Karate Kid" movies, old and new, share "a similar question of why do we fight and what do we fight for?" Wang says.
Adds Macchio: "Staying true to the theme is important when you're carrying a brand forward that has different chapters."
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