After making over $350 million worldwide back in 2010 Columbia hired Kung Fu Panda writers Cyrus Voris and Ethan Reiff to get started on a sequel to The Karate Kid. Little has been heard since, but now according to Variety Zak Penn has been hired for rewrites which suggests the sequel is still moving forward.

Penn is credited as writing Elektra, X-Men: The Last Stand and The Incredible Hulk, and most recently worked on a Dirty Dozen remake.

While Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan aren’t signed for the sequel they are expected to return. Will Smith will return as producer. No word on the involvement of director Harald Zwart, although given the critical and commercial success of The Karate Kid one would expect him to be considered again.

In 2010 Zwart said he would like to see the next film explore an all-new story rather than follow in the footsteps of the two sequels from the 80s. “I personally think it’s now so much on its own two feet, given the success, that it would be interesting to see where we could take it without ever thinking about the old ones.”

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M. Night Shyamalan’s movies may have decreased in quality over recent years but that hasn’t stopped Will Smith from teaming up with the director for 1000 A.E., a sci-fi/action movie which will also star Will’s son Jaden (The Karate Kid).

With filming set to begin early next year M. Night and Columbia’s are filling out the cast, and according to Heat Vision Zoe Kravitz and Sophie Okonedo are in talks to complete the on-screen family.

In the movie humans no longer live on Earth after it becomes inhospitable. Will Smith is playing a hero, while Jaden plays his son who is considered a failure as a warrior. When the two crash-land on Earth, it is up to the son to save the dad. If deals are struck Zoe Kravitz (last seen as Angel Salvadore in X-Men: First Class) will play Will Smith’s daughter, while Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda, The Secret Life of Bees) will play his wife.

Stephen Gaghan (Traffic, Syriana) was recently brought on to re-write the script, and the studio is aiming for a June 2013 release.

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Deadline are reporting that Will Smith and son Jaden are set to join M. Night Shyamalan’s next directorial effort, a yet-to-be-titled sci-fi project. Written by Shyamalan and Gary Whitta (The Book of Eli), the film is set in the distant future and follows an estranged father and son who have to navigate a desolate planet after their space ship crashes.

In a stament from Columbia Pictures Shyamalan says:

“The chance to make a scary, science-fiction film starring Jaden and Will is my dream project”.

No doubt it is. After three high profile misfires in a row, Lady in the Water, The Happening and most recently, the critically lambasted The Last Airbender, which limped to a poor $131 million domestic on a reported $150 million budget only to be saved by it’s overseas haul of $187 million, Shyamalan will be looking to cash in on the box office clout of the Smith family and bring back the golden years of the early 2000s.

It will mark the second time the father and son duo have teamed up in front of the camera, the first being The Pursuit of Happiness in 2006. Daddy Smith also served as producer on Jaden’s breakout movie The Karate Kid last year (which has a sequel in the works).

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Following a $56 million opening weekend for The Karate Kid (it doubled The A-Team‘s $25.7 million) and a total worldwide gross of $300 million Columbia Pictures began meeting with writers to pitch their ideas on where to take the sequel. Now according to Heat Vision Cyrus Voris and Ethan Reiff, the writers of Kung Fu Panda, have been hired to write the script.

The Karate Kid only cost $40 million to make so with success like that a sequel was bound to happen. Will Smith will produce again and there is a good chance director Harald Zwart will return given the positive reviews.

Back in June Zwart said he would like to see the next film explore an all-new story rather than follow in the footsteps of the two sequels from the 80s. “I personally think it’s now so much on its own two feet, given the success, that it would be interesting to see where we could take it without ever thinking about the old ones.”

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Update: Amazon has made The Karate Kid available to pre-order:

- DVD
- Blu-ray

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has officially announced that The Karate Kid starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 5th.

As well as receiving positive reviews the remake also managed to gross nearly $200 million worldwide on a budget of just $40 million. The Karate Kid is well and truly in the green now so strong DVD and Blu-ray sales should guarantee a sequel.

The Blu-ray special features include:

• ON LOCATION: The Karate Kid Interactive Map of China
• Alternate Ending
• Play All Hosted by Jackie Chan
• Production Diaries Hosted by Jackie Chan
• Chinese Lessons – Learn Chinese!
• Music Video: Justin Bieber Featuring Jaden Smith “Never Say Never”
• Just for Kicks: The Making of The Karate Kid
• movieIQ+sync(TM)
• PS3 Wallpaper Theme

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Following a $56 million opening weekend for The Karate Kid (it doubled The A-Team‘s $25.7 million) Columbia Pictures are meeting with writers to pitch their ideas on where to take the sequel.

The Karate Kid, which has also been getting positive reviews, only cost $40 million to make so it wouldn’t have taken much to makes its money back, but to make it back in such a way during it’s opening weekend makes it one of the first box office surprises of 2010.

MTV caught up with director Harald Zwart who commented on the film’s success, and said he was interested in directing the sequel if Sony want him back (I can’t imagine why not):

“It far exceeded my expectations,” director Harald Zwart told MTV News of the film’s success. “I’m from Scandinavia and we are in no habit of letting our dreams get the better half of us. We keep our feet on the ground and wait until we see the reality, and this time it just really exceeded what I had hoped for. It was just amazing!”

With “The Karate Kid” having established itself as a box office hit, there’s already talk of a possible sequel. Zwart said that while another installment has been discussed, he and his team have only loosely tossed around the idea up until now — so as to avoid jinxing anything.

“Every now and then we discussed it,” he said. “But the truth is, when you see Jackie and Jaden, they’re like a really good film couple. On and off camera, I was watching how they were pulling practical jokes on each other and throwing rocks in the lake, and you just want to keep looking at them because they have a great dynamic and great humor. We have just been playing with a few different ideas, but we haven’t landed on anything at the moment.”

Zwart, speaking only for himself he said, would like to see another “Karate Kid” film explore an all-new story rather than follow in the cinematic footsteps of the ’84 flick’s two sequels. “I personally think it’s now so much on its own two feet, given the success, that it would be interesting to see where we could take it without ever thinking about the old ones.”

Will Smith took a break from making movies to produce his son’s first big screen outing, and it seems to have paid off. Will recently signed up for Men in Black 3 so he won’t be able to give the sequel 100% of his attention, but I’m sure he’ll be heavily involved again.

Did you see The Karate Kid this weekend? Where do you want them to go with the sequel?

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Columbia has released another trailer for The Karate Kid remake starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. It’s similar to the first trailer (i.e. one big training montage), but it doesn’t look that bad. The original Karate Kid movies aren’t embedded in my childhood so I’m not as against the remake as some may be. I guess it’s up those people to decide whether this looks worthy or not.

The Karate Kid, which will be released in June, is directed by Harald Zwart (Agent Cody Banks) and produced by Will Smith.

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When it was announced that The Karate Kid was going to be remade there were quite a few people over the age of 30 who weren’t keen on the idea. I haven’t seen the original film(s) in years so I didn’t really have a feeling one way or the other.

Will Smith was one of the main reasons the film went ahead as he wanted it to be a star vehicle for his son, Jaden. If I were Will I’d probably use my power and influence to help my family too, but is Jaden actually the right guy for the role? Or did he get the role purely for being Will Smith’s son?

I began watching the trailer as a sceptic, but I can’t deny Jaden has the ‘moves’.

What do you think of the trailer? Has your childhood officially been raped? Or are you actually looking forward to this?

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Jaden Smith, son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, will star in a remake of The Karate Kid according to Variey. The original was released in 1984 and featured Ralph Macchio as the bullied teen. The Next Karate Kid in 1994 was responsible for launching Hilary Swank’s acting career.

The script is being written by Chris Murphy, and the film will shoot next year in Beijing and other cities. While the new film will be set in that exotic locale, it will borrow elements of the original plot, wherein a bullied youth learns to stand up for himself with the help of an eccentric mentor.

Jaden Smith will next be seen in The Day the Earth Stood Still.

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