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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Now that the summer is over (ok, maybe we still have a week to go, a week of pointless releases) we can finally look back at what has happened (and did not happen, like Prince of Persia turning into the next Pirates of the Caribbean) at the Box Office, both in North America and across the world.

I will get right to the facts, after a very solid start to 2010, May-August (the summer season for Hollywood) did not disappoint (ok, maybe it did a little). It started with Iron Man 2, a good sequel to a great movie, a sequel that in the end didn’t manage to live up to the hype created by way to high expectations. For lack of space I won’t go into every movie that came out this summer, but I will give you a top 5 of the most noteworthy ones. Now remember, this is not a list based only on box office performance, this is a list based on performance versus expectations and that is why, well, see for yourself:

5. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse ($653.1 million worldwide)

For lack of better words, this was a hit and considering New Moon had such an awful reception and dropped like a rock, very few (if any) expected Eclipse to match the $296.4 million the last one made in North America, but it did, hitting $296.6 million just 2 day ago. The average budget helped also put this film ahead of Iron Man 2 (but remember, box office success does not equal a good movie, just saying).

4. The Karate Kid ($282.3 million worldwide)

Who would have thought that a $40 million remake to an 80′s classic could turn into such a success story. Produced by Will Smith (father) to serve as a star vehicle for Jaden Smith (son) and shot in China starring Jackie Chan as the master (a role that made famous the late Pat Morita, nominated for an Oscar for the first Karate Kid, RIP).

3. Despicable Me ($281.3 million worldwide)

The first full length feature for animation studio Illumination Entertainment turned into one of the biggest surprise hits of the year. With an impressive $225.5 million in North America so far, this is a great start for a new franchise, one that will help Universal (the distributor) a lot.

2. Inception ($568.3 million worldwide)

Any other year this would have been number 1 on this list. Inception showed once again why Chris Nolan is so well regarded by fans, fanboys and critics alike, creating another great spectacle worthy of your hard earned money spent on a ticket (or more). Inception was without a doubt the wild card of the summer, Warner invested a lot in a movie that could have very well turned into a flop.

1. Toy Story 3 ($941.2 million worldwide)

This kind of success you just can’t overlook and while this is the sequel to a very popular franchise, 11 years have passed since we had Toy Story 2 and there was fear that people might not be so much into talking toys as they were a decade ago. Ultimately Toy Story 3 managed to live up to the hype and pass $400 million in North America and will soon reach $1 billion worldwide, becoming only the 7th movie to do that.

Honorable mentions would have to be Iron Man 2, Shrek Forever After, Grown Ups, Salt, The Other Guys or The Expendables.

Not so honorable are Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Robin Hood, The Last Airbender, Sex and the City 2 or The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

The rest of the year looks to have just as many surprises (or not) and I personally can’t wait to see how Potter 7 or Tron 2 will do at the box office.

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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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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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