Assignment 26.2 Old Films to New 

Introduction:Films are often seen are loved by many around the world, all movies have satisfied their audiences in one way or another. However, there are some movies that are loved by many and, directors and old fans are able to spark excitement in again. These are known more commonly as a remake. Remakes have been an ongoing tradition since the late 1950’s. With loved movies have come sequels which are on-going stories. However, a remake differs from that, they take anything the fans love about the original and make the same movie again in a more modernised fashion to suit the current audience generation.  The story may seem similar however there are other significant changes such as character names, or locations. 

In this report I’ll be taking a look at, an original movie and its remake. I’ll be having a look at the relationship these movies as well as the producers share, furthermore to back up my statements as evidence I’ll be looking to use screenshots of each movie to back up my points. The movie I’ll be looking at is, The Karate kid which had saw its debut in the year of 1984, followed by two more movies, then in the year 2010 Karate kid saw its way back to screens as the remake of the original movie.

The original Karate kid, was released in the year of 1984 (as aforementioned), and was directed by John G. Avildsen, someone who was known for directing movies such as, the Rocky movies five and one, as well as Happy New Year (1987). As opposed to the 2010 remake, the producers of the movie included talent such as actor Will Smith, as well as producers Ken stovitz and Dany Wolf. There was also the use of international talent involved, as a Chinese producer also worked on the film the Chinese producer went by the name of, Haicheng Zhao and worked as a part of the China Film Group. Meaning there was a use of international co production that saw the US working with China to make this film. This shows that the movie was filmed in multiple locations whereas, the original movie has been filmed primarily in the US. The relationship between the producers of each film is unknown. 

Within each of the following films there are stars that have featured within the course of each film, following a similar storyline with differences within each remake. The most prominent of these changes would be the martial arts learnt by the main character, in the original it's evident that the protagonist in this movie (played by, Ralph Macchio) the martial art learnt is Karate, and in the remake or “reboot”, the protagonist (Jaden Smith), is seen learning Kung Fu in opposition to the original Karate Kid. The story of the original movie is as aforementioned filmed in the US primarily and follows the story of a boy, who's been bullied and taught Karate as a form of self defence. The remake in turn does the same thing in the sense that the storyline is the same however only a small remainder of the film is filmed in America whereas the rest is filmed in China. This is a good example of locations and international filming which brings more of a realistic feel to the movie's storyline.