A certain type of film transcends the realm of filmmaking. When you revisit it decades later, it still seems relevant despite creeping into the culture and being quoted at inappropriate times. That’s precisely what John G. Avildsen’s original 1984 film, The Karate Kid, is. Unbelievably, the $8 million underdog tale of a New Jersey kid navigating Los Angeles and learning karate from his apartment handyman has developed into a franchise that continues to release new films in 2025.
You get something unexpected when you watch the entire film in chronological order: a true depiction of how American cinema has evolved and how one improbable tale continues to find new ways to survive.
The first movie, which debuted on June 22, 1984, featured Ralph Macchio’s character Daniel LaRusso and Pat Morita’s now-iconic portrayal of Mr. Miyagi, which still stands up better than the majority of the films from that decade. Morita was nominated for an Academy Award for the part for a reason. The character isn’t ostentatious or boisterous. His quiet, exacting, and patient traits made him seem almost out of place in 1980s Hollywood, but they were perfect for the narrative.
When the follow-up came out two years later, it took a risk that few sequels do: it relocated almost entirely to Okinawa, away from the original’s sun-bleached suburban setting. In The Karate Kid Part II, Miyagi returns to his hometown to face old grudges and rivalries. Although it’s not as tight as the first movie, it gives Miyagi’s backstory more nuance and gives the impression that the world is bigger than the All-Valley Tournament.
The Karate Kid movies and shows in order:
| # | Title | Year | Type | Director | Main Cast | Box Office / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Karate Kid | 1984 | Film | John G. Avildsen | Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue | $300M worldwide |
| 2 | The Karate Kid Part II | 1986 | Film | John G. Avildsen | Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Tamlyn Tomita | $115M domestic |
| 3 | The Karate Kid Part III | 1989 | Film | John G. Avildsen | Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Thomas Ian Griffith | $38.9M domestic |
| 4 | The Karate Kid (Animated) | 1989 | TV Series | — | Pat Morita (narration) | 13 episodes, NBC |
| 5 | The Next Karate Kid | 1994 | Film | Christopher Cain | Pat Morita, Hilary Swank, Michael Ironside | $8.9M domestic |
| 6 | The Karate Kid | 2010 | Film | Harald Zwart | Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith, Taraji P. Henson | $359M worldwide |
| 7 | Cobra Kai | 2018–2025 | TV Series | Heald, Hurwitz, Schlossberg | Ralph Macchio, William Zabka | 6 seasons, Netflix |
| 8 | Karate Kid: Legends | 2025 | Film | Jonathan Entwistle | Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio, Ben Wang | $102M worldwide |
The original run starts to falter with the release of The Karate Kid Part III in 1989. Through Terry Silver, a Vietnam War comrade of the dojo’s founder John Kreese, the film revived the evil Cobra Kai. Critics weren’t impressed at the time; it currently has an 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and even Macchio admitted that the script had issues. The intriguing thing about Part III, though, is that it matters a lot in hindsight. One of the most interesting antagonists in the later television series Cobra Kai would be absent without Terry Silver.
The Next Karate Kid, which debuted in 1994, completely replaced Daniel with a new pupil, Julie, a teenage girl portrayed by Hilary Swank, who was not yet well-known. The audience mostly ignored Morita’s return as Miyagi. The movie’s domestic box office receipts were under $9 million, and the franchise went silent for sixteen years.
Everything was changed in the 2010 reboot, including the characters, the setting, and even the martial art. Jackie Chan played Mr. Han, the mentor, while Jaden Smith portrayed Dre Parker, a young man from Detroit moving to Beijing. The movie made over $359 million worldwide, almost three times as much as the original, indicating that there was still a sincere desire for this kind of narrative when it was presented with the appropriate vigor. It’s important to note that 2025’s Karate Kid: Legends, which features Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan together on screen for the first time, retroactively incorporated the 2010 movie into the main Karate Kid universe.
Ben Wang plays Li Fong, a new protagonist in the 2025 movie Legends, who trains in New York City under both Mr. Han and Daniel LaRusso. It’s a clear admission that the franchise has expanded from a single narrative to a mythology with several points of entry and a common emotional core.
Cobra Kai, a Netflix series that debuted in 2018 and ran through 2025, runs concurrently with the movies. Thirty-four years later, it resumes the story of Johnny Lawrence, the antagonist of the first movie, and transforms him into something far more nuanced than a villain. For its debut season, the show received a flawless 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s not a coincidence. It succeeded because it questioned presumptions that the original movies never considered challenging while still honoring what had come before.
The Karate Kid (1984), The Karate Kid Part II (1986), The Karate Kid Part III (1989), The Next Karate Kid (1994), The Karate Kid (2010), Cobra Kai (2018–2025), and Karate Kid: Legends (2025) are the full films to watch in chronological order. That’s about 40 years of narrative linked by a few recurrent themes, such as patience, mentoring, and the distinction between fighting to harm someone and fighting to defend oneself.
The most intriguing thing is that none of this was predetermined. Because studio executives were concerned that Pat Morita would only be seen as Arnold from Happy Days, he was almost passed over for his own iconic role. Before Macchio was cast as Daniel LaRusso, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Cruise, and Nicolas Cage were all considered. The franchise that has now made over $778 million globally almost never existed in its current form.
Maybe that’s precisely why it still has resonance. A handyman and a teenager, a borrowed car, and a painted fence served as the foundation for the entire project, and for some reason, that modesty has proven more resilient than nearly everything Hollywood has worked harder to turn into a legacy.
