'Karate Kid: Legends' Poster Released To Public, Trailer Shown Privately To NYCC
'Karate Kid: Legends' Poster Released To Public, Trailer Shown Privately To NYCC
Sony Pictures came through on their panel, bringing with them the casts of 'Kraven the Hunter' and 'Venom: The Last Dance'
Sony Pictures had the one New York Comic-Con panel I had my eye on Friday. As previously reported, it was them bringing three films in their upcoming slate: Venom: The Last Dance, Kraven the Hunter, and Karate Kid: Legends, and each had their own way of packaging their footage. Legends, which releases in theaters on May 30 brings together Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han from the 2010 “remake” and Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso from the first three films and subsequent Cobra Kai television series to mentor new student Li Fong, played by Ben Wang. It released its poster several hours beforehand, and the name usage today confirms they're sticking with it, as to this point it seemed tentative.
In truth, the Karate Kid: Legends poster certainly carries the spirit of the posters of the Macchio-led era, with Chan and Macchio as floating heads that go down to the shoulder. Though this is the first time they’re mirrored and facing away. Previously LaRusso and his mentor Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) faced each other or the same direction. Wang takes an action pose in his karate uniform. While the trailer was shown privately to the panel audience, it didn’t mean details couldn’t be revealed. It turns out that Fong is already under Han’s tutelage in Beijing, but ends up needing LaRusso’s help. It seems their conflicting teaching styles will be part of the conflict. It wouldn’t be a Karate Kid trailer without “intense karate action”, whether in the streets or at a dojo, in a subway or at the next karate tournament to train for. Li Fong fights off a bully in an alleyway by swinging off a fire escape ladder and flipping off the wall. Wang not only has stunt experience from starring in the Disney+ series American Born Chinese, but is also skilled in several forms of martial arts, including karate, wing chun kung fu, kumdo, kenpō and taekwondo. Chan’s voice is heard saying, “In life you only have one question: Is it worth fighting for or not?” A quieter moment sees Li Fong sit curbside with Daniel, donning the movie’s iconic head scarf. The trailer’s tagline is “When families unite a new legacy begins.”
Ming-Na Wen’s role is properly revealed here and might be what should’ve been suspected all along with an Asian lead: she’s Li Fong’s mother. The rest of the cast includes Sadie Stanley as the love interest, Joshua Jackson as her father Victor, and Shaunette Renée Wilson as Ms. Morgan. Aramis Knight, Wyatt Oleff, and Jennifer-Lyn Christie are cast in roles that still haven’t been revealed yet. Karate Kid: Legends is directed by Jonathan Entwistle, whose past work includes I’m Not Okay with This and The End of the F***ing World. It is written by Rob Lieber, whose credits include Sony’s Peter Rabbit and Disney’s 2014 Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day.
While Venom: The Last Dance’s star and co-writer Tom Hardy, director and his co-writer Kelly Marcel, Juno Temple and Chiwetel Ejiofor, doubled down on it being the final Venom movie and came with the Venom Horse, Kraven the Hunter came with its opening 7 minutes, gorily showcasing how it got its R-rating, presented by director J.C. Chandor and star Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The scene begins, as described, in a Russian prison colony that Kraven enters covertly as an inmate to get inside kill an imprisoned mob boss. He does so with “brutal theatricality”, driving the tooth from the head of a Siberian tiger rug into the victim’s neck. He’s subsequently shown in a forest making quick work of a commando-like team sent into a forest to try to catch or kill him including wrapping a bear trap around one assailant’s face. Venom opens on October 25, while Kraven opens in the December 13 slot Legends couldn’t make.
Sources: Entertainment Weekly, Deadline