The official trailer for Karate Kid: Legends was released by Sony Pictures Entertainment on Tuesday.
In the teaser trailer, Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan reprise their roles as the martial arts masters in the iconic Karate Kid franchise.
Their legendary characters team up and work together to help train karate prodigy Li Fong, who is portrayed by newcomer Ben Wang, 24, for the ultimate martial arts showdown.
The trailer for the upcoming action flick begins with Chan, 70, with Mr. Han from the 2010 Karate Kid movie.
In a tranquil Chinese garden surrounded by sky-rises, he is leading a class of young students and instructing the future martial arts masters-in-training — and one of them is karate prodigy Li Fong, played by the up-and-coming star Wang.
He hunts down the original karate kid Daniel LaRusso, who is played by Macchio, the latest celebrity to be immortalized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The official trailer for Karate Kid: Legends was released by Sony Pictures Entertainment on Tuesday. In the teaser trailer, Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan reprise their roles as the martial arts masters in the iconic Karate Kid franchise
Their legendary characters team up and work together to help train karate prodigy Li Fong, who is portrayed by newcomer Ben Wang, 24, for the ultimate martial arts showdown
‘Our traditions are rooted in history. Kung fu. Karate,’ Han narrates at the start of the trailer over clips of the Chinese students training in karate. ‘The tree grows strong.’
In the following clip, Han travels far to Los Angeles.
Macchio, 63, the star of the original movie trilogy and the Netflix revival series Cobra Kai, as Daniel LaRusso is surprised that Han has found him at Miyagi-do Dojo.
He asks Han: ‘You knew Mr. Miyagi?’
‘I did not come looking for Sensei Miyagi,’ Han tells Daniel. ‘I came looking for you.’
In a series of quick-paced clips, it is shown that Han’s student Li is uprooted from Beijing and forced to move to New York City with his mother.
He struggles to fit in at school and, at one point, he is seen checking out his black eye after encountering a group of bullies in school.
When he makes a friend with a girl who needs his help, he decides to enter a karate competition.
The trailer for the upcoming action flick begins with Chan, 70, with Mr. Han from the 2010 Karate Kid movie
He hunts down the original karate kid Daniel LaRusso for help. Macchio, 63, the star of the original movie trilogy and the Netflix revival series Cobra Kai, as Daniel LaRusso is surprised that Han has found him at Miyagi-do Dojo
As the series of events are shown in segments, Han narrates: ‘In life, you have only one question. Is it worth fighting for it…or not?
The martial arts master then goes searching to find the original karate kid to help him train Li.
‘Li means to me what you meant to Sensei Miyagi,’ Han tells Daniel.
After convincing him to join forces, Han and Daniel merge their two martial arts styles and teach Li a new way to fight for the epic showdown.
In between cutscenes, words flash across the screen: ‘When families unite, a new legacy begins.’
‘I’m doing this for all of us,’ Li tells his two teachers in the middle of their hard training. ‘Whatever it takes.’
In another scene, Li and Daniel are sitting on the sidewalk after fighting some of their enemies when they share an inspiring, teacher-student moment.
‘Two branches,’ Li begins the phrase before Daniel finishes it for him. ‘One tree.’
In a series of quick-paced clips, it is shown that Han’s student Li is uprooted from Beijing and forced to move to New York City with his mother. He struggles to fit in at school and, at one point, he is seen checking out his black eye after encountering a group of bullies in school
When he makes a friend with a girl who needs his help, he decides to enter a karate competition
When Daniel presents him with his own bandana, one with the imagery of the symbolic tree, Li immediately puts it on and takes on all of his challenges up ahead with the strength and confidence his two teachers have instilled in him.
The star-studded cast is not limited to silver screen vets Macchio and Chan.
Ming-Na Wen plays Li Fong’s mother. Joshua Jackson and Sadie Stanley will also appear in the film.
Together, they star alongside and introduce the newcomer Wang.
He was casted after Chan and Macchio teamed up in real life to conduct a worldwide search for the prodigy to take on the role.
Wang was chosen because in addition to his action chops, he is also experienced in the karate variety as well as wing chun/kung fu, gumdo, kempo and taekwondo.
It was also important to Chan and Macchio, who revealed they got the script in September 2022 and casted Wang earlier this year, that their Karate Kid was fluent in Mandarin and understood the Asian American experience.
The martial arts master then goes searching to find the original karate kid to help him train Li. ‘Li means to me what you meant to Sensei Miyagi,’ Han tells Daniel
After convincing him to join forces, Han and Daniel merge their two martial arts styles and teach Li a new way to fight for the epic showdown
‘I was the target audience when that movie came out. I was exactly the age of the character,’ Wang said about being casted as the latest titular Kid after falling in love with the movies when he watched the 2010 version with Chan and Jaden Smith.
‘That whole movie takes place in Beijing, and I’d just come back from living for a year in Beijing. Also, I grew up watching Jackie Chan movies. He is the first memory I have of knowing what an actor is. It was all of my favorite things in one place,’ the American Born Chinese star told Entertainment Weekly in an article published on Monday.
Thirteen years later, he landed the role, which he never imagined was possible.
‘I thought, “That’s going to be awesome for whatever kid gets it,”‘ he recalled with a laugh.
Karate Kid: Legends is set to premiere in theaters on May 30, 2025.
