Karate Kid...Kung Fu Kid - It's filming, it will suck

The Will Smith-produced remake of the 1984 family hit The Karate Kid has scored the official title of Kung Fu Kid according to The Associated Press.

Filming kicked off on Saturday in Beijing on the co-production between the state-run China Film Group and Columbia Pictures.

'Kid' stars Jaden Smith as the titular student and Jackie Chan as the wise kung-fu master. Harald Zwart ("Pink Panther 2") directs.

Producer Ken Stovitz confirmed the story will be set in modern-day Beijing and filming will continue for three months.

Posting this was as painful as having to read it. It's going to be so bad isn't it. Directed by the man who brought us Pink Panther 2.

Source: Dark Horizons

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The Random - Primeval, Aronofsky/Portman, The Karate Kid, DiCaprio's Online Poker film, Honey Pot, Friday 13th, The Birds, Akira,

- British dinosaur-themed sci-fi series Primeval will not be returning for a fourth season reports Total Sci-Fi Online. The still popular show has fallen victim to substantial budget cuts at the fledgling ITV network in the UK which has seen other popular shows like crime procedural "Wire in the Blood" similarly get the axe before their time.

- Natalie Portman is attached to play the lead in Darren Aronofsky's supernatural thriller Black Swan says The Hollywood Reporter. Black Swan centers on a veteran ballerina (Portman) who finds herself locked in a competitive situation with a rival dancer, with the stakes and twists increasing as the dancers approach a big performance. But it's unclear whether the rival is a supernatural apparition or if the protagonist is simply having delusions. Mark Heyman has done a rewrite of John McLaughlin's original script for the film.

- Paramount Pictures has picked up an untitled film pitch about the world of Costa Rica-based online casinos for Leonardo DiCaprio to star in says the trades. Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Rounders, Ocean's Thirteen) came up with the idea which DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran will produce for his Appian Way production company.

- Paramount Pictures and Montecito Co. have picked up Liz Meriwether's action-comedy script Honey Pot says Variety. While the storyline is being kept top secret, the film will feature two female leads and be set in the world of international espionage.

- Steven Conrad ("The Pursuit of Happyness") has been hired to rewrite the remake of The Karate Kid for Sony Pictures says Risky Biz Blog. Conrad takes over for Chris Murphy who was originally hired to write the script of the reboot starring Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith and Taraji P. Henson.

- Talking with Movieweb producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form spilled on the progress of various Platinum Dunes projects.
First up, the sequel to this year's hit Friday the 13th remake. "We want to have fun. We want to present something that audiences haven't seen before. One of the things they haven't seen before is Jason in the snow" said Fuller.
The pair also admits that their planned remake of The Birds is still very much stuck in development - "We keep trying. I don't know. That is so hard to get the script right. We struggle with it. I won't have anything to say until the script is finished. We lay ourselves out there and get annihilated out there online all day long,and [The Birds] just opens us up to a whole different level of annihilation…it doesn’t feel like that’s up next for us.”

- The Leonardo DiCaprio-produced live-action adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's classic 1988 anime feature Akira has been ditched according to Bloody Disgusting. The project was a two-part film that Warners and DiCaprio's Appian Way had been developing with Gary Whitta ("The Book of Eli") scripting and Ruairi Robinson directing. Now according to BD, who first broke the news of the project 18 months ago, not only has Robinson left the project but the overall project is "dead as a doornail" according to two sources.

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The Karate Kid is Dead. Long Live the Kung-Fu Kid.

Don't worry Ralph Macchio is still alive and kicking. This is all about the proposed remake of the original 1984 classic that so many of us grew up with. Jaden Smith (Will's kid) is down as the kid and Jackie Chan is going to be Mr Miyagi. Plus the action has moved to Beijing. That is all old news of course.

Jackie Chan has let slip that this remake is actually going to be called Kung Fu Kid, not Karate Kid.

"They don't want to call it Karate Kid any more," Chan said. "They want to call it The Kung Fu Kid." He quickly changed topics and unfortunately didn't add any more about as to why this change was being made.

I just can't get any excitement going for this remake. All the sequels were just remakes of the original idea anyway. What do you think of the rename?

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Pat Morita's Personal Effects on ebay - Bid on, Bid Off

We all remember Pat Morita. He was Arnold in Happy Days for a while, but more importantly he was Mr Miyagi in The Karate Kid. Sadly he passed away in 2005 and it looks as if his Widow is having to sell off some of his belongings on ebay. This is what she says on the auctions.

I AM THE WIDOW AND TRUSTEE OF MY HUSBANDS ESTATE AND I HAVE RECENTLY BEEN OFFERING MEMORABILIA FROM HIS FILMS. HOWEVER, BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN ASKED SO MANY TIMES TO OFFER OTHER ITEMS OF HIS PERSONAL EFFECTS, I'M LISTING SOME ITEMS FROM OUR EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF ANTIQUES, ART,ETC.

There are a load of different things on there. From the samurai helmet box (shown above) to a mandolin with case. There is even an old pipe of his.

Sad that his stuff has to be sold off but if you are a fan of his and want to own something he owned then head on over to the full list of items.

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Why remake it? Jaden Smith to be The Karate Kid

Why oh Why oh Why Hollywood! Some remakes I can understand, but this just doesn't need to be done at all. The one starring whatsherface, Hilary Swank, was a big pile of (rhymes with Swank) and now this sounds crapola.

Variety confirms that Jaden will star in a “refashioned” remake of the 1980’s classic, The Karate Kid. Want more naffness, the film will be set in an exotic locale, with a shoot planned for next year in Beijing. Chris Murphy’s screenplay is said to “borrow elements” from the original film, and is not a strict remake.

Jaden, an avid practitioner of karate, made his big screen debut as Will Smith’s son, which must have been hard to act, in Pursuit of Happyness. He can be seen next in The Day the Earth Stood Still. No word on if Stephen Chow will be involved as was originally rumoured (he was meant to be Mr Miyagi). He will be busy with The Green Hornet.

For this rumour I hope it gets wiped off! See what I did there? I look forward to Chisholm's thoughts on this remake news.

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