The Karate Kid (1984) made $90.8 million. The Karate Kid Part II (1986) grossed $115.1 million. The Karate Kid Part III (1989) earned $38.9 million. The studio was keen to continue the franchise, though this film's $8.9 million take effectively killed the prospects of any further films. The 2010 remake took in $171.8 million at the box office.
Daniel Larusso, the protagonist of the first 3 films, does not appear in the film. It is presumed that he went away to college. After Mr Miyagi walks in on Julie while she's changing clothes, he says he "used to live with boy...Daniel-san." Macchio was 33 years old, too old to reprise his role as a "Karate Kid." He publicly stated that he was "not interested in becoming the Sylvester Stallone of Karate Kid movies." Though 24 years later he did agree to star in the Cobra Kai (2018) TV series based on his Karate Kid films for YouTube's new original content channel.
Pat Morita's final appearance as Mr. Miyagi, due to Morita's passing on November 24 2005.
The fight choreographers gave Hilary Swank a "pink belt" for her mastery of the most flashy techniques, but none of the basics.
Before his passing in 2005, Pat Morita conceived a potential fifth Karate Kid film which would have had a dying Mr. Miyagi training Johnny Lawrence, who now works as a doctor, into his peaceful karate arts so Johnny can find balance on his life before Miyagi passes away and gets send to Okinawa so he can be buried there. The concept never got off the ground, but it seems that a part of it has been revived for an episode of Cobra Kai.