YouTube Red’s push to continue growing into a viable platform for its own exclusive content has found itself a new concept in John G. Avildsen’s 1984 award-winning martial arts drama classic, The Karate Kid, starring Ralph Macchio and William Zabka. For this, we turn to Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment where upcoming comedy series Cobra Kai, is now in the works for a 2018 premiere from screenwriter Josh Heald (Hot Tub Time Machine) and duo Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg (Harold and Kumar).
The original film saw Macchio in the memorable role of New Jerseyan Daniel LaRusso, newly settled in Reseda, California and forced into an extempore martial arts tournament challenge with his cheerleader girlfriend’s ex, Johnny Lawrence (Zabka) and his unscrupulous Cobra Kai Dojo classmates. Aided by his home’s maintenance man and World War II veteran, Miyagi Kesuke (the late Morita Noriyuki, a.k.a. Pat Morita), LaRusso undergoes an unorthodox regimen that not only gives him the strength and training he needs, but a spiritual bond and friendship with his newfound mentor.
The film also became Academy and Golden Globe nominated and spawned three sequels – one which cast actress Hillary Swank as the lead – as well as a reboot in 2010 with Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan headlining.
Cobra Kai will span as a ten-episode half-hour series, setting its story thirty years after the fateful tournament showdown (as seen above) with the crux of its story now focused on an insolvent Lawrence, whose rivalry re-ignites with a now-successful, albeit stoic LaRusso, as Lawrence aspires to re-open the Cobra Kai Dojo. Hurwitz and Schlossberg will serve partly as show directors as well as executive producers with Macchio and Zabka, in addition to Smith’s Overbrook banner. James Lassiter and Caleeb Pinkett are overseeing. (THR)
