Yes, sensei! Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan to star in new Karate Kid movie

What a difference a year makes.

Last fall, after Sony Pictures announced a new Karate Kid movie slated for 2024, EW asked the original Karate Kid about it — and he knew absolutely nothing. “I have no other information,” Ralph Macchio told EW in September of 2022. He went on to say that no one had contacted him about the project, adding, “I think that [will be figured out] in the near future, or I may have nothing to do with it.”

Bite your tongue, Daniel-san! Today, Sony Pictures announced that Macchio will reprise his role as Daniel LaRusso in the next Karate Kid film — and he’ll co-star with martial arts legend Jackie Chan, reprising his role as Mr. Han from the 2010 Karate Kid reboot. Though the studio is keeping plot details under wraps, they confirmed the film will hit theaters on December 13, 2024. Rob Lieber (Peter Rabbit) will write the screenplay, and Jonathan Entwistle (The End of the F***ing World) will direct.

No other casting has been announced, and the studio is currently in the midst of a “global casting search” to find the next Karate Kid.

Macchio will next be seen in the sixth and final season of Netflix’s Cobra Kai, which continued Daniel LaRusso’s story as he rediscovers his love of karate and forms a (tentative) friendship with his old rival, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). Last year, Cobra Kai creators Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg clarified that they were not involved in the new Karate Kid project — but no one can stop us from hoping for some kind of big screen/small screen crossover.

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