The martial arts film The Karate Kid Part III premiered in 1989. While the movie was not a hit, it introduced two popular characters, Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) and Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), to the franchise. It appears that Silver will return to cause even more havoc in the San Fernando Valley during Cobra Kai Season 4, much to the delight of fans.
The Creator of ‘The Karate Kid’ Was Uninterested in Making the Third Film
YouTubeJohn Kreese (Martin Kove) and Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) talk about the future of Cobra Kai in “The Karate Kid Part III”
However, Robert Mark Kamen, who created the Karate Kid franchise, was not interested in making The Karate Kid Part III. In a recent interview that was uploaded on the Cobra Kai Theory YouTube channel, the writer revealed he “didn’t want to do it.” He explained that he initially “wanted to do” a movie similar to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. He explained the film would have been a fantasy involving Mr. Miyagi time traveling and interacting with his ancestors. The overarching plot involved “two warring Chinese villages.”
However, the studio was not interested in going forward with Kamen’s idea. He instead was requested to write a film that followed the same formula as The Karate Kid and The Karate Kid Part II.
“They wanted to do the same thing over again. Daniel meets a girl, there’s a villain, etc. and I took a pass. I said ‘that’s not my idea of what I want to do.’ And I pitched them my idea and they rejected it and so I went on my merry way,” explained the writer.
He then went on to say that the studio “hired somebody else” to write the film. According to Kamen, it did not end up working out because “no one else could write Mr. Miyagi.”
Kamen Was Convinced To Make the Movie by Being Offered a ‘Ridiculous Sum of Money’
YouTubeDaniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) speaks to Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) in the ‘Karate Kid Part III.’
During the interview, the 73-year-old revealed that he “ran into” his friend, Dawn Steel, who was the studio head at Columbia Pictures.
“She said, ‘look, I need this movie for my slate. I’m building a slate here but I need this movie. You have to write it,’” recalled Kamen.
He stated that he initially refused her proposition.
“I said, ‘no I want to write my movie.’ And she said ‘I’ll give you this ridiculous sum of money if you do our movie.’ And I said, ‘I’m in the movie business. I’m a screenwriter. I’m ready, you know.’ She paid me a lot of money,” said Kamen.
He clarified, however, that despite agreeing to write the film, he still had issues with The Karate Kid Part III.
“It’s not my favorite movie. Everybody did the best job they could but you know… the movie was tough to shoot. It was hard because everybody — it was just tough all the way around. And I didn’t want to tell the same story again but we ended up telling the same story just with small twists and trying to make the same thing different,” said Kamen.
He also made reference to the fact The Karate Part III was not commercially successful, as it was too similar to the first and second films.
“It did not perform as well as the first two movies performed because people smelled it. They smelled that it wasn’t fresh that it wasn’t original, you know,” stated the screenwriter.
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