By | Published January 17, 2010

THE KARATE KID remake, starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, has garnered the second highest test score among research audiences in studio history according to Sony Pictures. The top scorer remains Will Smith’s 2005 comedy HITCH. The results of the research were revealed by the studio to Entertainment Weekly.

While the test viewers were undoubtedly picked to represent Sony’s preferred demographic, it’s rare for a studio to reveal test scores that are in the 97th percentile as this one was. This could mean that Sony has a genuine hit on its hands despite concerns from fans of the original film and possible confusion stemming from the use of THE KARATE KID title in conjunction with use of Chinese wushu in the film.

Coincidently, this news happens to drop on the same weekend that Chan’s family comedy THE SPY NEXT DOOR opens to near universal panning from critics. Rotten Tomato’s Tomatometer currently rates the movie at a low 9%. The film is currently in sixth place on its opening weekend with an estimate of just under $10 million earned according to Box Office Mojo.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

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  • diegohatake

    In respect for Pat Morita I'm not gonna watch this movie. I'm a fan of Jackie but I simply can't do that .

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Daniel-Zelter/1352966720 Daniel Zelter

    Did the test audience consist primarily of people who saw Chipmunks 2?

  • flagday

    Pat Morita did not know karate. He just gave a great performance as did Ralph Macchio. I say give this movie a chance. ackie as a sifu makes sense to me and I hope that Jackie had some input into the training scenes. Think about what kind of training he was put through as a child…could a kid today survive that?

    I further hope that this movie will inspire a lot of kids to start studying martial arts instead of sitting on their butts in front of TVs playing Avatar inspired video games. What would be wrong with that?

    Let the bashing commence.

  • 8wayfist

    Why can't this kid and his dad quit making ass-to-mouth movies?

  • joe smith

    I couldn’t even finish watching the preview. WHAT A DISGRACE!!. Jackie should never have agreed to this debacle.

  • jinkazama

    So let me get this right, in this version, the black kid from NY gets beaten up a chinese kid, see, thats twisted man.

  • lance

    “THE KARATE KID remake, starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, has garnered the second highest test score among research audiences in studio history”

    WOW, well, second highest in history, can't argue with that. Guess they are really delivering here, doing right by a classic. Could this finally be the Hollywood role we've been waiting for from Jackie Chan? Really looking forward to this now. With all the crappy cash-in remakes of late, and the … wait a minute …

    “The top scorer remains Will Smith’s 2005 comedy HITCH”

    Oh.

    Never mind.

  • http://www.justcats.biz/ Sandra Adams

    I like Karate and I really really impressed to this kit.Thanks to sharing with us.