The New Karate Kid Movie

On June 16th, 2010, Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith and the Smith family arrived at the premiere of The Karate Kid in Beijing, China. Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith showed off many of their karate moves. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith, executive producers of The Karate Kid, were present as well, delighting the crowds as they waved. And, of course, Willow was there to accompany her brother as well.

Listen to Jaden Smith discuss his movie, The Karate Kid, which premiered this month. Jaden explains his relationship with Jackie Chan. Enjoy a few great clips from the film as well.

Everyone showed up for the Karate Kid premiere in Los Angeles on June 7th at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood, California. The stars of the new film, Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, posed for pictures with the original Karate Kid movie actor, Ralph Macchio.

They smiled, as well, for pictures with the whole family. Jaden brought along famous father, Will Smith, and mother Jaden Pickett Smith, and his little sister Willow Smith. Trey Smith, his older brother, was there as well.

Enjoy a clip from the Ellen Degeneres showing what a character Jaden Smith is. Enjoy seeing some insight into Jaden’s character. Jaden Smith will soon be starring in the new Karate Kid Movie that will debut this weekend.

Professional Background of Karate Kid Movie Director Harald Zwart

Director of Karate Kid movie Harald Zwart, also directed The Pink Panther 2 (in 2009); Agent Cody Banks (2003); Hamilton (1998); Parents (1992), Gabriel’s Surprise (1990) and many more movies. He was the executive producer for: Tomme Tonner this year, Women in White (2009) and the producer for Lange Flate Ballaer II (2008), a movie in which he also acted. He has written three movies and was the editor for Parents.

History and Early Beginnings of Karate Kid Movie Director

Zwart was born in Norway and was the first from his country to gain membership into the Directors Guild of America. But that’s not all his country can be proud of him for. He made a music video for songwriter and singer Jan Eggum which was the first song in Norwegian to be screened on MTV.

Harald Zwart has a fun side to him too. In an attempt to create a type of Planet Hollywood museum, he gave props from some of his movies to the cinema in Fredikstad (where he grew up) and now it is known

If it’s not broken, why fix it?, so the old adage goes.  Well, it certainly worked for the Karate Kid movies back in the 1980s.  And that is probably why The Karate Kid that is due out in June this year, has the same great writer, Robert Mark Kamen.  Not only did he write The Karate Kid 1984, but he was also the screenwriter for other popular movies, including Taken (2008), The Transporter (2002), The Fifth Element (1997), A Walk in the Clouds (1995) and Lethal Weapon 3 (1992).
More than just a screenwriter and movie enthusiast, Robert Kamen is also quite the academic.  He earned himself a Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania in American Studies.
He actually has another good reason though to have been so successful in writing The Karate Kid movies.  He himself practiced martial arts to a very high level.  He was able to be extremely specific when writing the fighting scenes because he had actually been there.   Kamen claims that getting into the screenwriting market is way more difficult than it was when he started as there just always seems to be someone new and popular out there with whom you are competing against.  So he advises potential screenwriters to focus, and not just use the market as an attempt at a way in to other areas of film making like producing or directing.

Top actors, established writers, and original music all comprise phenomenal ingredients for a top movie.  That is the hope for The Karate Kid, due out on June 11, 2010.  To anyone who knows anything about movie making, it is a given that poor, or inappropriate music can be totally detrimental.  But those waiting to see The Karate Kid need not worry about that. James Horner created the music for this movie and he is a natural.  The guy began learning how to play the piano, when he was a mere five years old. Some years later, still with a love and dedication for music, Horner studied at London’s well-esteemed Royal College of Music.  He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Music from USC and then his masters at UCLA where he later educated students on music theory.  But that wasn’t enough for Horner.  He had the music studying bug and did a Ph.D in Music Composition and Theory.
So there can be no disputing that Horner knows what is what when it comes to music.  But how does one adapt that to a movie like The Karate Kid?  Not content with just being a music genius, he got into film as well in the late 1970s.  This started with being a film scorer for the American Film Institute, which thereafter led to him being assigned this task for real films.  Horner’s first well known project was music composition for Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan in 1982 and from there on the work just flooded in.  If anyone knows what music would work just perfectly for The Karate Kid, it would be James Horner.

Taraji P Henson, who plays the mom in the new Karate Kid movie, has appeared in various movies over the last few years.  She was in: Four Brothers, Talk To Me, Smokin’ Acres, Family That Preys, Not Easily Broken, Hurricane Season and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. All of these movies were screened in the last five years.  In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Henson starred alongside Brad Pitt, and was nominated for an Oscar for her role as Queenie.  So she has definitely made a name for herself in recent years.
Henson doesn’t come from an acting family; her mother was in the business world and her father was a fabricator and janitor.  If she has any fame attached to her roots, it would be from her great-grandfather Matthew Henson who was a major player in discovering the Geographic North Pole.  Still, it appeared her parents wanted her to succeed and be happy no matter what she did in life; her two names mean hope and love in Swahili.

Jaden Smith who plays Dre Parker in the new Karate Kid movie, is the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.  It appears the Smiths are a real close family unit.  The three even enjoy performing together.  In Jaden’s first movie performance he appeared alongside his father.  This was four years ago, in the film ‘The Pursuit of Happyness.’  As in real life, they played father and son.
Jada hasn’t been left out of the picture either.  Jaden appeared in the video for ‘Superwoman’ alongside her. But the story doesn’t end there. Jaden has a sister, Willow, who is also pretty good at acting.  She made her debut in the movie ‘I am Legend’ in 2007.  She starred alongside her father Will.  The movie did really well.  It basically opened to the largest ever box office for a non-Christmas US film being released in December.  It earned $329 million internationally, putting it into the seventh highest grossing film of the year.  Will is obviously very proud of his childrens’ acting career. Indeed it was said that it was he who organized Jaden to play the Karate Kid in the remake of the original film that screened over two decades ago.
The Smiths do more than just act together.  Jaden and Willow are both youth ambassadors for Project Zambia which helps children who have been orphaned by AIDS in Africa.

The New Karate Kid movie, due to be screened on June 11, 2010, will take place in Beijing, China.  While the original movie that was ever-popular over 20 years ago was screened in the United  States of America, the basic idea of the original plot remains the same.  It forms a really important moral for young kids today struggling at school or socially. A young boy learns to stand up to bullies in an extremely constructive way, antithetical to bullying.  Rather than countering attacks with violence, the boy learns from a Chinese martial arts master.
For sure the fact that this movie will move from America to China, will cause a whole different impact than the original one which was only in America.  Given the popularity of the original movie, the new Karate Kid movie is bound to be one many – both original viewers and newbies alike – are going to be lining up to see.