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The Karate Kid film franchise has done it all - from inspiring millions to crane kick their way through the '80s to navigating awkward sequels, reboots, and a surprise streaming comeback with Cobra Kai…with Karate Kid: Legends, a brand new movie from the series, arriving in cinemas in this Summer.

In this episode of Sequelpalooza, we break down the many lives of The Karate Kid - exploring how a simple underdog story evolved into a decades-spanning saga, complete with spiritual successors, forgotten chapters, and unexpected pop culture dominance.

We cover everything from the original trilogy and The Next Karate Kid to the 2010 reboot and the runaway success of Cobra Kai.

How did a small coming-of-age martial arts film become a long-running cultural phenomenon? And which chapters of its story still hold up today?

This is episode six of Sequelpalooza, the series from Culture Slice that dives into Hollywood’s unpredictable obsession with sequels, reboots, and franchise reinventions.


00:00 Intro + opening titles
01:25 The Karate Kid (1984)
13:51 The Karate Kid Part II (1986)
17:45 The OTHER martial arts films of the 80s and 90s
21:16 The Karate Kid Part III (1989)
26:24 The Next Karate Kid (1994)
31:36 The Karate Kid (2010)
34:18 Cobra Kai on Netflix (2018-2025)
37:50 Where did it all go wrong (or right) for the franchise?
41:08 Culture Slice updates + thanks for watching