The Karate Kid franchise is one of the most iconic and enduring franchises that has grown in ways many could not have predicted even as recently as ten years ago. The story of a young man needing to learn to defend himself and being taught by a kindly older figure has endured for many generations and inspired many subsequent films. The original trilogy saw a rise in karate classes during the 1980s and the movie’s lines became part of everyday conversation.

After laying dormant for years and despite a rather well-liked reboot in 2010, the franchise skyrocketed to new levels of popularity with the television series Cobra Kai. Cobra Kai has revived The Karate Kid brand in a way that has brought back old fans as well as captivated new audiences. It has been so successful that Sony Pictures recently announced a new Karate Kid movie set for release in June 2024. The new movie announcement has raised some confusion among fans as it is said to not be connected to Cobra Kai but instead a direct sequel to the original trilogy possibly branching off the timeline.

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While there is still some time before the new movie comes out, and if you are looking to start a watch of the popular series, here is The Karate Kid franchise in chronological order and by order of release (which happen to be the same in this case).

The Karate Kid Franchise in Chronological Order

  • The Karate Kid The Karate Kid Part II The Karate Kid Part III The Next Karate Kid The Karate Kid (2010) Cobra Kai

The Karate Kid

     Columbia Pictures

The Karate Kid sees young Daniel LaRusso move to Reseda, Los Angeles from New Jersey, where he becomes the target of bully Johnny Lawrence, who is the top karate student at the Cobra Kai dojo. Daniel befriends his apartment complex’s handyman, Mr. Miyagi, who it turns out is a karate sensei who teaches Daniel a different form of combat. Daniel enters the 1984 All Valley Tournament and defeats Cobra Kai, much to the disappointment of the dojo’s sensei John Kreese.

The Karate Kid introduces many of the franchise’s key players and much of the central mythology of the movies. Miyagi’s lessons of “wax on, wax off” not only show a different form of fighting but also became part of the larger pop culture lexicon. Pat Morita’s performance as Mr. Miyaga is an iconic role in film history and was even nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor.

The Karate Kid Part II

The Karate Kid Part II picks up immediately after the end of The Karate Kid, where Mr. Miyagi saves Johnny Lawrence from abuse by the Cobra Kai sensei John Kreese. The movie then jumps forward six months later to 1985 when Mr. Miyagi receives a letter about his dying father and returns home to the village on Okinawa Island. Daniel accompanies him and discovers more about Miyagi’s past including an old rivalry with Sato. Sato’s nephew and student Chozen becomes Daniel’s main enemy in the film and even challenges Daniel to a fight to the death.

The Karate Kid Part II not only expands the mythology of Mr. Miyagi’s fighting history which will be carried over in subsequent films but also introduces a new host of characters that will become staples later on in Cobra Kai.

The Karate Kid Part III

Set immediately after the events of The Karate Kid Part II, The Karate Kid Part III sees Daniel and Mr. Miyagi return to find the apartment complex under renovation leaving Miyagi without a job and Daniel homeless. While his mother has returned to New Jersey, Daniel stays with Mr. Miyagi and opens up a bonsai shop. Meanwhile, Cobra Kai sensei John Kreese has allied with his old Vietnam War buddy and now business tycoon Terry Silver to take down Daniel and Miyagi while restarting Cobra Kai. Silver drives a wedge between Daniel and Miyagi and eventually trains Daniel in the aggressive Cobra Kai technique, but Daniel and Miyagi reunite and publicly defeat the Cobra Kai gym at the new All Valley Tournament leaving them disgraced.

While the least popular film in the original Karate Kid trilogy, many of the elements from the series were reincorporated into later seasons of Cobra Kai to great effect recontextualizing the movie as an important piece in the larger story. However by this point, the franchise was losing popularity, and star Ralph Macchio was becoming too old to play a kid, so the franchise took a seven-year hiatus and tried to spin off with a new approach.

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The Next Karate Kid

Released five years after The Karate Kid Part III, The Next Karate Kid sees Mr. Miyagi (the only returning character) travel to Boston to attend a commemorative service for the Japanese-American soldiers who served in World War II. While there he meets Julie, the granddaughter of one of Miyagi’s commanding officers. Miyagi takes Julie back to Los Angeles and helps her deal with her anger issues due to her parent’s death.

The Next Karate Kid was a box office and critical disappointment, and would likely be the easily forgotten entry in the franchise if not for the fact that Julie is played by two-time Academy Award-winning actress Hilary Swank in her debut film. The film currently is the only major entry in the series not referenced in Cobra Kai, yet fans have asked for a Hilary Swank cameo since season one.

The Karate Kid (2010)

     Sony Pictures Motion Picture GroupEDKO

Released in 2010, The Karate Kid was a full-blown reboot of the original film. It took the same basic outline of a kid being transported to a new home and being trained in martial arts but moved the location to China, and notably it is not karate but kung fu. The movie was a star vehicle for Jaden Smith and saw Jackie Chan step into the mentor role. Interestingly the movie was a box office hit and received strong reviews but no sequel ever materialized.

There is some debate regarding the 2010 film being part of the chronological order of the original series and Cobra Kai, as it was originally intended to be a reimagining of the original film with many clear parallels. While the creators of Cobra Kai have ruled the reboot non-canon, there is still a chance to incorporate the film as part of the larger mythology if they so choose to.

Cobra Kai

     Netflix

Eight years after The Karate Kid reboot, and almost a whole 30 years since the release of The Karate Kid Part III, Cobra Kai picks up the story in 2018 following an adult Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso. By this point in the timeline, Mr. Miyagi has passed away (the series says he passed away in 2011) and now the two former rivals have crossed paths once more that not only reignites their old rivalry, but featuring a new generation of students, and many famous returning faces from the past films like Chozen, Terry Silver, and John Kreese return with new dimensions added.

Cobra Kai originally aired for two seasons on YouTube Red before moving to Netflix where it truly broke out as a cultural phenomenon. The series has provided new context for the original films, as well as serving as a great jumping point for new fans to enter the franchise. In an age of legacy sequels, Cobra Kai is certainly one of the best-case scenarios of making an engaging story with great characters that respect the original while also paving its own path. The series recently premiered season 5 in September 2022 with many fans waiting on the status of season six.

The Karate Kid franchise in Order of Release

  • The Karate Kid - June 22, 1984 The Karate Kid Part II - June 20, 1986 The Karate Kid Part III - June 30, 1989 The Next Karate Kid - September 9, 1994 The Karate Kid (2010) - June 11, 2010 Cobra Kai - May 2, 2018