Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Karate Kid...the first surprise Hollywood hit of the summer

Finally.

Everyone is freaking out over the low box office numbers this summer.

The A-Team was expected to be number one last weekend but The Karate Kid made almost double what the studio projected.

The reviews from "civilians" (this what our industry calls people who do not work in "the biz") were outstanding.

Reading various sites, people kept saying over and over again, they liked the story, they cried, they cheered, etc. It's one of the few family movies out there and I can't remember the last "non urban" film that had a tween of color as the lead. While this is based on a 80s movie, they kept it simple. No CGI, no 3D, just tell a good story.

Box office analysts also noted many parents who came of age with the original films took their children and a lot of kids study the martial arts. All of this is true but if the movie didn't work on an emotional level it wouldn't have made so much money.

In international markets the film will be called The Kung Fu Kid.

For personal reasons I'm super psyched as the Sony executive who oversaw The Karate Kid is the same executive on our movie. He's having a very good week.

Regarding the A-Team, I pity the remake that doesn't have the original Mr. T in it. He thinks the movie is too violent and very different in tone from the series.

8 comments:

erin said...

whoa...who would've thought? I just heard a lot of skepticism leading up to the KK2 - I think b/c the first round held such an iconic place to our generation. That's awesome it's changing people's minds. That's pretty great though to see something like that do well...a family film for the summer!

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

erin - exactly. A remake has to stand on its own merits to work, just like a movie adapted from a book, play, TV series, comic book etc.

J.Doe said...

I don't profess to know anything about the new A-team, but i am not too surprised that it is too violent. Everything is these days.

Viajera said...

Gonna see it tonight. the previews looked AWESOME! and I've heard it's better than the original.

As to the A-team movie... LOL! Um... I loved Liam Neeson and the Murdoch character, but it was a total waste of time. Not sure why they remade it. Well, the cinema was full so I guess they know why. lol

Sirmelja said...

I can't wait to see it! The trailer looks amazing and, of course, it has the cute kid factor in Will Smith's son. Hits all my buttons. Only, will it produce anything as iconic as "wax on, wax off"? :-)

Sonia @ My Sweet Monkey said...

the first time i saw the trailer i knew it was going to be a must see! i can't wait to see it.

as for the A-team.. same thing, i saw the trailer and i knew i wouldn't see it at all. it just looks like another lame action-adventure with too many special effects.

gibber said...

my comment didn't show up from yesterday. weird. anyway, i just wanted to say that TKK is appealing to people like the boy, who totally wants to go see it, who loved the original and still watches it everytime it comes on. The trailer looks great. Jackie Chan looks to be the way I like him the most...calm but kicking ass. And Jaden is such a patootie!

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

J. doe - The original show was more tongue and cheek. Not sure why they decided to go in this direction.

viajera - I know they were thinking franchise for the A- Team. We'll see if there's sequel.

sirmelja - Already people are saying "Jacket on, jacket off"!

sonia - the buzz from the A-Team trailer was horrible. We'll see how the movie holds up next weekend. 30 millions isn't a bad opening...maybe it will have legs.

gibber - that's weird...anyhoo, let me know what you think about the movie.