Sony Pictures Entertainment’s The Karate Kid, starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, gets off to a phenomenal start at the UK Box Office and exceeds all industry expectations taking a fantastic £4.9 million to become the biggest film opening at the weekend beating the other major opener, The A Team.
Following on from the success of The Pursuit of Happyness, in which he starred alongside his father Will Smith, Jaden Smith stars in his first leading role in The Karate Kid.
In Columbia Pictures’ The Karate Kid, 12-year-old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) could have been the most popular kid in Detroit, but his mother’s (Taraji P. Henson) career takes them both to China.
Dre has a hard time making friends at first but he does make a connection with his classmate Mei Ying, and the feeling is mutual, until cultural differences make such a friendship impossible. Even worse, Dre makes an enemy of the class bully, Cheng.
Dre knows only a little karate, and in the land of kung fu, Cheng puts 'the karate kid' on the floor with ease. Feeling alone in a foreign land, Dre has no friends to turn to except the maintenance man, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan).
Secretly a master of kung fu, Mr. Han and Dre begin to train together, building a friendship and moving toward a final showdown with Cheng at a kung fu tournament.
As Han teaches Dre that kung fu is not about punches and parries, but maturity and calm, Dre learns that facing down the bullies will be the fight of his life.
Columbia Pictures presents an Overbrook Entertainment / Jerry Weintraub Production, in association with China Film Group Corporation, The Karate Kid. The film stars Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, and Taraji P. Henson.
Directed by Harald Zwart. Produced by Jerry Weintraub, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, James Lassiter, and Ken Stovitz. Screenplay by Christopher Murphey.
Story by Robert Mark Kamen. Executive Producers are Dany Wolf, Susan Ekins, and Han San Ping. Director of Photography is Roger Pratt, BSC. Production Designer is François Séguin.
Editor is Joel Negron. Costume Designer is Han Feng. Co-Producer is Solon So. Music by James Horner. Music Supervision by Pilar McCurry.
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