appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Matt Glasby

Compared to the 1984 original, Harold Zwart’s 2010 Karate Kid remake really rings the changes.
Instead of the unknown Ralph Macchio as the eponymous kid, we get Jaden Smith, son of international megastar Will Smith and nobody’s idea of an underdog. Instead of kindly Pat Morita as his reluctant teacher, we get Jackie Chan, perhaps the most famous martial artist in the world.
And instead of the karate we get kung fu, although nobody bothered to change the title.
But neither Chan nor Smith are the real stars here – and nor is the fighting. The Karate Kid is an international co-production between China, Hong Kong and the USA, but it quickly becomes clear which of these is the real power player.


As young Dre Parker (Smith) and his mother, Sherry (Taraji P. Henson), drive to Detroit airport bound for Beijing, they pass a derelict factory just as the credit for the China Film Group production company flashes on-screen. China may be many things, but derelict isn’t one of them.
Sherry’s Beijing job comes with accommodation at the Beverly Hills Luxury Apartments. In most Hollywood movies, the joke would be that it’s as far from luxury as it is from Beverly Hills, but it’s surprisingly nice. There’s a park outside full of smiling locals doing tai chi, and the janitor, Mr Han (Chan), takes Dre under this wing and teaches him kung fu.
How did Transformers: Age of Extinction make so much money in China?
“It’s like we’re brave pioneers on a quest to start a new life in a magical land,” says Sherry, without a trace of irony. The film does its best to bear this out, featuring some of China’s most picturesque and impressive sights.
According to Smith Sr, a producer on the film, Chan’s clout helped them secure permission to shoot in places most movies wouldn’t be allowed to. Early on, Dre and his new classmates are treated to a tour of the Forbidden City, not seen on screen since Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor back in 1987.
“No mortal was permitted access, hence the name forbidden city,” says a guide, helpfully. Beyond showing off, there’s no real purpose to the scene, but even the world-weary Dre seems vaguely impressed as the movie pauses to take it all in.

Other scenes show Han and Dre taking a train through the towering Wudang mountains – a mere 20 hours from Beijing, but who’s counting? Once there, they climb up to the Golden Summit temple, where Dre sees a martial artist balanced on the edge of a precipice and dancing with a cobra, a lesson in reptile husbandry that, of course, will pay off in the film’s climactic fight.
Further training sessions take place on the Great Wall. Quite who covered Mr Han’s janitorial duties during these little field trips is anyone’s guess.
China’s visual majesty is matched by its discipline. At one point, Dre and Sherry watch in awe as hundreds of scarlet-robed martial artists practice their moves on a field of verdant green at Beijing’s Shaolin Wushu School. Even the traffic jams look orderly.

Films like this usually show the outsider learning something from the locals, and them learning something from him in return. But Dre is sloppy and cocky – when an expat kid asks, “Know any Chinese?” he just responds, “Nah.” “This is China,” says the kid, “might not be a bad idea.” – and in the battle between American ignorance and Chinese wisdom there can only be one winner.
Where most co-productions approach depicting China with respectful bemusement, the makers of The Karate Kid seem to have fallen completely under its spell. The result is a rare fish-out-of-water tale that seems more concerned with the water than the fish.
Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook


Meet Gary Oldman’s wife, Gisele Schmidt, who hit the Emmys red carpet with the Slow Horses star

Why Oliver Stone’s Snowden film remains a terrifying surveillance warning 10 years on

Meet Ben Affleck’s nephew Indiana, who stars in dad Casey’s new film

Kirsten Dunst in Manolo Blahnik heels features in new Marie Antoinette book

American cinema

Why China – not Jackie Chan, nor even Jaden Smith – is the real star of 2010 co-production The Karate Kid

Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith in a still from The Karate Kid (2010).

Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, co-stars of The Karate Kid. The real star of the 2010 co-production is arguably China, where the film was shot in locations including the Forbidden City, Great Wall and Wudang mountains. Photo: AP

Jaden Smith in a still from The Karate Kid.

Jackie Chan as Mr. Han and Jaden Smith as Dre Parker in a still from The Karate Kid.

They kept Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li safe: Kung Fu Stuntmen film hails the unsung heroes who risked life and limb for Hong Kong movies

In the famous clock tower stunt from Project A, Jackie Chan fell from the 22-metre structure and passed through two awnings that broke his fall.

A scene from Kung Fu Stuntmen. Tony Ling served as one of three body doubles for Jet Li in the finale of Once Upon a Time in China (1991).

A still from Kung Fu Stuntmen. Mars Cheung was among the stuntmen who had to jump from a 15-metre-high clock tower in Project A (1983) before star Jackie Chan attempted the jump.

Tsui Hark, director of Once Upon a Time in China (1991), in a still from Kung Fu Stuntmen.

An old picture of Yuen Woo-ping’s stunt team shown in Kung Fu Stuntmen.

Kung Fu Stuntmen director Wei Junzi (left) and Hong Kong Stuntman Association chairman Chin Kar-lok in a still from the documentary.

How 2012 time-travel thriller Looper rewrote the future of Chinese-American co-productions

Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a still from Looper.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a scene from Looper. The movie was one of the first major Hollywood films to be granted Chinese co-production status.

Summer Qing (left) and Bruce Willis in a still from Looper.

Emily Blunt in a still from Looper.

Director Rian Johnson (left) speaks to Gordon-Levitt on the set of Looper.

How Chinese movie fans made Warcraft the most successful video game adaptation of all time

A still from Warcraft: The Beginning (2016).

A still from Warcraft: The Beginning (2016). Despite flopping badly in the US, the film made a massive US$156 million in its first five days on release in China.

Travis Fimmel (left) in a scene from Warcraft: The Beginning.

Fimmel (left) and director Duncan Jones on the set of Warcraft: The Beginning.

A still from Warcraft: The Beginning.

Keanu Reeves’ martial arts movie Man of Tai Chi marked a high point for China-US co-productions – yet bombed at the box office

Keanu Reeves in a still from Man of Tai Chi (2013).

Tiger Chen stars in Man of Tai Chi, a 2013 film directed by Keanu Reeves.

Tiger Chen (right) and Yu Hai in a still from Man of Tai Chi.

Keanu Reeves in a still from Man of Tai Chi.

Zhang Yimou’s fantasy movie The Great Wall with Matt Damon – a great fail for the China-US co-production model

Matt Damon in a still from The Great Wall.

Director Zhang Yimou (centre) and his main cast members on the set of The Great Wall.

Andy Lau in a still from The Great Wall.

Matt Damon in a scene from The Great Wall. The most expensive film ever shot on Chinese soil, it lost US$75 million worldwide.

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Arts

Culture

Film & TV

East meets West

How giant shark movie The Meg, starring Li Bingbing and Jason Statham, became the highest grossing China-US co-production in history

Li Bingbing and Jason Statham in a scene from The Meg (2018).

Li Bingbing and Ruby Rose in a still from The Meg.

Rain Wilson and Winston Chow in a still from The Meg.

Li Bingbing (third, left) and Jason Statham (centre) lead an international cast in The Meg (2018). Despite negative reviews, the film made US$530 million worldwide to be the highest-grossing Chinese-American co-production of all time.

US-China co-production Transformers: Age of Extinction, with its Hong Kong scenes and Chinese character, made more money in China than in the US

Mark Wahlberg in a still fromTransformers: Age of Extinction.  

Optimus Prime and a Dinobot in a still from Transformers: Age of Extinction. The fourth instalment in the Transformers series took more money at the Chinese box office than in the US.

 Mark Wahlberg at the world premiere of Transformers: Age of Extinction, at the Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, in 2014. Photo: Felix Wong

Stanley Tucci and Li Bingbing in a still from Transformers: Age of Extinction.

A model of the Transformers character Bumblebee in front of Qianmen Gate in central Beijing in 2014. Photo: Jason Lee/Reuters

How Marvel’s Iron Man 3 tried but failed to please Chinese viewers, from Fan Bingbing’s pointless cameo to brazen product placement

Robert Downey Jr. in a still from Marvel’s Iron Man 3 (2013). A special cut of the movie made for Chinese audiences included four minutes of extra footage. 

Ben Kingsley plays a version of The Mandarin in Iron Man 3.

Fan Bingbing in a still from the Chinese version of Iron Man 3.

Performers at a promotional event before the release of Iron Man 3 in China. Photo: Reuters

Why Jackie Chan’s 2017 movie The Foreigner, a UK-China co-production, was that rare project to offer the best of both worlds

Jackie Chan in a still from The Foreigner. Photo: Christopher Raphael

Jackie Chan and Rory Fleck Byrne in a still from The Foreigner, directed by Martin Campbell. Photo: Christopher Raphael

Jackie Chan and Katie Leung in a still from The Foreigner. Photo: Christopher Raphael

Pierce Brosnan in a still from The Foreigner.

Jackie Chan (centre) at the China premiere screening of The Foreigner.

How The Last Emperor opened doors for more China co-productions and offered a balanced view of its complicated past

Tao Wu and Joan Chen in a still from The Last Emperor, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.

John Lone as Puyi in a scene from Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987). The film opened doors for future co-productions with China.

A still from The Last Emperor.

Film director Bernardo Bertolucci (right) in Beijing, in 1985, with The Last Emperor adviser Pujie, brother of Puyi, the last emperor of China’s Qing dynasty.

How Furious 7 left the competition behind in China, unlike most China-US co-productions

Paul Walker in a scene from Furious 7. When the China-US co-production was released in China in 2015, it broke just about every record going.

A still from Furious 7.

Director James Wan and Vin Diesel on the set of Furious 7.

How 2012 movie The Expendables 2 short-changed Chinese viewers and everyone else, too – but still made US$315 million

Sylvester Stallone in a still from The Expendables 2.

(From left:) Yu Nan, Terry Crews, Sylvester Stallone, Randy Couture and Dolph Lundgren in a still from The Expendables 2.

Jet Li in a still from The Expendables 2.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in a still from The Expendables 2.

Sylvester Stallone (left) and Yu Nan in a still from The Expendables 2.

How US-China co-production The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), co-starring Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, buried a billion-dollar franchise

Jet Li in a still from The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Jet Li as the vicious Han Emperor in a still from The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008).

Maria Bello (left) and Brendan Fraser in a still from The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Luke Ford (left) and Isabella Leong in a still from The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Michelle Yeoh in a still from The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Despite starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li, The Forbidden Kingdom, a US-China co-production, ended up as ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for kids’

Jet Li (left) and Jackie Chan in a still from The Forbidden Kingdom. Photo: Online


From left: Jackie Chan, Michael Angarano and Liu Yifei in a still from The Forbidden Kingdom (2008). Photo: SCMPost

Jet Li (left) and Jackie Chan in a still from The Forbidden Kingdom. Photo: Online

Jet Li (left) and Jackie Chan arrive for the world premiere of The Forbidden Kingdom in Beijing, China in 2008. Photo: AP

Jet Li and Liu Yifei in a still from The Forbidden Kingdom (2008).

Steven Spielberg’s China-set Empire of the Sun – the first American film to be shot in Shanghai since the 1940s – forgot one important element: the Chinese

Christian Bale (left) in a still from Empire of the Sun.

Christian Bale in a still from Empire of the Sun.

The crowded streets of Shanghai in a still from Empire of the Sun. Directed by Steven Spielberg.

A still from Empire of the Sun.

How The Dark Knight’s makers tried in vain to court China by shooting scenes for Christopher Nolan’s superhero masterpiece in Hong Kong

The Dark Night was partly filmed in Hong Kong.

Batman swoops over Hong Kong’s Central district in a scene from The Dark Knight, which failed to impress China despite its makers’ intentions. Photo: Warner Brothers

Christopher Nolan (right) on the set of The Dark Knight in Hong Kong.

Crowds mob Christian Bale during shooting in Hong Kong in 2007. Photo: SCMP

 Chin Han plays corrupt businessman Lau (right), with Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, in a still from The Dark Knight (2008).

Bad guys changed from Chinese to North Korean in Red Dawn remake at the height of Hollywood appeasing China in 2012 – but it still flopped

Chris Hemsworth in a still from Red Dawn (2012).

(From left) Josh Peck, Josh Hutcherson and Chris Hemsworth in a still from Red Dawn. Photo: Ron Phillips/2009 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios

‘North Korea’ in a still from Red Dawn.

Chris Hemsworth and cast in a still from Red Dawn.

Will Yun Lee in a still from Red Dawn.

Did China ruin actor Richard Gere’s career after 1997 film Red Corner?

FOR USE WITH FEATURE PACKAGE FOR SUNDAY NOV. 2 --Chinese actress Bai Ling begs Richard Gere not to run in a scene from the movie “Red Corner,” being released Friday, Oct. 31.  “Red Corner,” an account of an American executive framed for murder and railroaded by the Chinese judicial system, is one of five films being released that deal with Chinese oppression.  The fresh batch of China-related films is motivated by genuine concern about international human rights and the film business’ unique position to advocate for change. (AP Photo/Richard Foreman Jr., HO)

Richard Gere in the 1997 film Red Corner, which was highly critical of China. Photo: UPPA

Bai Ling (centre) in a still from Red Corner. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios

Richard Gere in a still from Red Corner. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios

Richard Gere (centre) and Bai Ling (right) in a still from Red Corner. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios

Is Dwayne Johnson action movie Skyscraper a blueprint for US-China co-production despite being a box-office flop in America?

Dwayne Johnson attends a Skyscraper press conference in Hong Kong. Photo: Sam Tsang

Dwayne Johnson (left) and Chin Han in a still from Skyscraper, a film which courted the Chinese market it wanted to break into with respect. 

Neve Campbell (left) and Dwayne Johnson in a still from Skyscraper.

Johnson with Chin Han (left) and Campbell (right) at the Skyscraper press conference in West Kowloon, Hong Kong. Photo: Sam Tsang

Dwayne Johnson in a still from Skyscraper.

Why this dragon didn’t roar: starring Sam Neill, first Chinese-Australian film co-production The Dragon Pearl was a flop

Sam Neill in a still from The Dragon Pearl.

A still from The Dragon Pearl (2011). In order to appease China and get approval for the film, the character of the dragon was changed and the script rewritten weeks before filming began. 

Li Linjin as Ling (left) and Jordan Chan as Wu Dong in a still from The Dragon Pearl.

Sam Neill as Chris Chase (left) and Robert Mammone as Philip Dukas in a still from The Dragon Pearl.

Louis Corbett and Li Linjin in a still from The Dragon Pearl.

Why Milla Jovovich movie Ultraviolet, a US film shot in China, went so horribly wrong

Milla Jovovich in a still from the 2006 movie Ultraviolet, a US-China co-production that rips off sci-fi standards such as Total Recall, The Matrix and Minority Report.

Milla Jovovich (left) and Cameron Bright in a still from Ultraviolet.

Milla Jovovich in a still from Ultraviolet.

(From left) Ultraviolet director Kurt Wimmer, Charles Wang of producer Salon Films, and John Tsang, then Hong Kong secretary of commerce, industry and technology, in 2004. Photo: SCMP

Why Brad Pitt was banned from China after 1997 movie Seven Years in Tibet

Brad Pitt as mountaineer Heinrich Harrer in a still from Seven Years in Tibet (1997), directed by Jean-Jacque Annaud. Photo: Columbia/Tristar Photo.

Brad Pitt in a still from Seven Years in Tibet (1997), directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud.

Seven Years in Tibet director Jean-Jacques Annaud (left) and star Brad Pitt (centre), and members of the Tibetan Association of Southern California, at the film’s premiere in Los Angeles on October 6, 1997. Photo: Reuters

Brad Pitt (right) as Heinrich Harrer receives a blessing from Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk as the Dalai Lama in a still from Seven Years in Tibet. Photo: Columbia/Tristar Photo

Brad Pitt (left) as Heinrich Harrer and David Thewlis as fellow Austrian mountaineer Peter Aufschnaiter in a still from Seven Years in Tibet. Photo: Columbia/Tristar Photo

Brad Pitt poses for a selfie with Chinese fans as he arrives at a premiere of the film Allied in Shanghai, China on November 14, 2016. Photo: AP

Was Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim, a US-Mexico co-production set in Hong Kong, really a show of Hollywood power?

A still from a scene in Hong Kong in Guillermo del Toro’s “Pacific Rim”. The film, inspired by Godzilla movies, was criticised by some in China for its geopolitical undertones, but the director argued that it was simply popcorn entertainment. Photo: Warner Bros

Charlie Hunnam (left) and Rinko Kikuchi in a still from “Pacific Rim”. Photo: Warner Bros

A still from “Pacific Rim”. Photo: Warner Bros

Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro signs posters from “Pacific Rim” in Los Angeles, California, in 2013. Photo: EPA/Michael Nelson

How US-China co-production The 355, starring Penélope Cruz, Jessica Chastain and Fan Bingbing, failed on all fronts

Jessica Chastain as Mason “Mace” Brown in a still from “The 355”, co-written and directed by Simon Kinberg.

(From left) Diane Kruger as Marie, Jessica Chastain as Mason “Mace” Brown and Lupita Nyong’o as Khadijah in a still from “The 355”, co-written and directed by Simon Kinberg. The US-China co-production, which also featured Fan Bingbing, was a box office flop.

Co-writer/director Simon Kinberg (left) and Jessica Chastain on the set of The 355.

Fan Bingbing as Lin Mi Sheng in a still from The 355, co-written and directed by Simon Kinberg.

(From left) Penélope Cruz, Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o and Diane Kruger in a still from The 355.

How Jackie Chan vehicle Skiptrace, a 2016 US-China co-production by Hollywood director Renny Harlin, put the clash in culture clash

Jackie Chan as Benny Chan and Johnny Knoxville as US gambler Connor Watts in a still from US-China co-production Skiptrace (2016). Photo: Intercontinental Film Distributors

Fan Bingbing as Samantha (left), the daughter of Jackie Chan’s partner, and Johnny Knoxville as American gambler Connor Watts (right) in a still from “Skiptrace”.

Film director Renny Harlin in Hong Kong in 2019. Photo: Edmond So

Jackie Chan as Hong Kong detective Benny Chan in a still from “Skiptrace”.

Fan Bingbing in a still from “Skiptrace”.

How Bait 3D, an Australia-Singapore shark movie co-production, became a monster hit at the Chinese box office

A still from “Bait 3D”.

Sharni Vinson (left) and Xavier Samuel in a still from “Bait 3D” (2012), which took the Chinese box office by storm.

“Bait 3D” has “the requisite mix of gore, bad CGI and ‘Jaws’ jokes”. 

Adrian Pang as Jessup in a still from “Bait 3D”.

Clean up on aisle three: a great white shark menaces shoppers in a still from “Bait 3D”.

How Disney got kicked out of China over Martin Scorsese’s Kundun, a 1997 movie that ripped a hole in US-China relations

Tulku Jamyang Kunga Tenzin is bowed to in a scene from the film &apos;Kundun&apos;, 1997. (Photo by Buena Vista/Getty Images)

A scene from Martin Scorsese’s 1997 movie Kundun, about the early life of the Dalai Lama, which left a scar on US-China relations and saw Disney kicked out of China. Photo: Getty Images

A scene from Kundun. Photo: Walt Disney Studios

Martin Scorsese at a press conference on Kundun in Rome on March 9, 1998. Photo: AP

Tulku Jamyang Kunga Tenzin (front) in a scene from Kundun. Photo: Getty Images

How Hong Kong setting gave Chris Evans superhero movie Push a real feel a world away from the Marvel films he would go on to star in as Captain America

Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning in a still from “Push”. Photo: Hirotake Okazaki/Summit Entertainment.

Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning in a still from “Push”. The movie harnessed the energy of Hong Kong, where it was set, to make for a superhero that feels more real than those of the Marvel films Evans would go on to star in. Photo: Hirotake Okazaki/Summit Entertainment.

Li Xiaolu as triad watcher Pop Girl in a still from “Push”. Photo: Summit Entertainment

(Front row from left) Jacky Heung, Hal Yamanouchi and Fung Chi-kwan in a still from “Push”. Photo: Hirotake Okazaki/Summit Entertainment

Director Paul McGuigan (second from left), Dakota Fanning (centre) and Chris Evans (right) on the set of “Push”. Photo: Hirotake Okazaki/Summit Entertainment

How Michael Mann’s 2015 film Blackhat mixes hacking, Thor’s Chris Hemsworth and Hong Kong to disappointing effect

Tang Wei and Chris Hemsworth ride an escalator in a station on Hong Kong MTR subway network in a still from “Blackhat” (2015). Michael Mann’s 2015 film had plenty of expertly filmed action set pieces, but little else going for it. Photo: Universal Pictures

Wang Leehom in a still from “Blackhat”. Photo: Edko Films Limited/Kingmart Advertising Company

Hemsworth (left) and director Michael Mann on the set of “Blackhat”. Photo: Edko Films Limited/Kingmart Advertising Company

Tang and Wang in a still from “Blackhat”. Photo: Edko Films Limited/Kingmart Advertising Company

Hemsworth in a still from “Blackhat”. Photo: Edko Films Limited/Kingmart Advertising Company

How 2012, Roland Emmerich’s end-of-the-world drama, broke Chinese box-office records – despite not being the ‘love letter to China’ some thought