People love a good underdog story, and The Karate Kid is an indisputable classic in this genre. Even before Cobra Kai reinvigorated the franchise, it was a stone-cold classic. When it came out in 1984, it became the biggest sleeper hit of the year, earning an astounding $100 million on a mere $8 million budget. It made its star, Ralph Macchio, one of the biggest heartthrobs of the eighties, and Pat Morita, a standup comedian, earned an Oscar nomination for his iconic role as Mr. Miyagi. The film was directed by John G. Avildsen, who also directed the original Rocky, and certainly knew a thing or two about making a classic underdog, feel-good movie.
Yet, what’s most astounding about the film is how well it’s held up over the years, and how much its legacy has endured. Sure, there were the sequels, with the second just as big of a hit as the first (although the third and Macchio-less fourth were flops), and even a quasi-remake with the Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith-led Karate Kid (which really should have been called The Kung-Fu Kid). But, it was Cobra Kai, which started life as a low-budget series for YouTube Red (before going over to Netflix) that truly brought the franchise back into the zeitgeist, with it returning to the classic characters from the original (including William Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence) and given them a new dimension no one could have ever anticipated (here’s Macchio and Zabka themselves on why they think they franchise has endured).
With yet another new installment of the franchise, Karate Kid: Legends, coming out this week, we take a look back at the original 1984 film and dig into what, for many of us, is an essential part of pop culture and a timeless classic that has never lost its relevance or appeal.
