Entertainment
40 Years Later, This ’80s Cult Classic Star Officially Wants a Reboot, ‘Cobra Kai’ Style [Exclusive]
The success of the streaming series Cobra Kai brought The Karate Kid back with a modern-day twist and proved that the martial arts epics of the 1980s still have resonance in the modern day. Now, one of the stars of John Carpenter‘s Big Trouble in Little China has a similar idea for that film. Actor James Pax discussed the movie’s legacy at a panel marking its 40th anniversary at Big Lick Comic Con, which was moderated by Collider’s Maggie Lovitt.
Pax starred as Lightning alongside Kurt Russell in Big Trouble; he also appeared in movies like Invasion USA, Year of the Dragon, and Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects. He’s become a regular at conventions, and is often asked about a sequel to the movie. He knows exactly what he’d do with it, and thinks it could run four or five seasons:
“I said, well, you know, 20th Century Fox has the rights, and they haven’t done it for 40 years. But then why do they do Karate Kid and make it into Cobra Kai, and not Big Trouble, right? So I say to myself, I’m a director now, and I’m a screenwriter; I’m going to take the helm and be the writer and the director. So the next time when I see Kurt, I’m gonna tell him: ‘Kurt! You wanna partner up with me? I’m gonna write it, I’m gonna direct it, and you’re still gonna be the star of it, but we’re gonna put some younger guys in it, and make it a sequel, but then there’ll be some episodes with prequel in it.’ You know, I think he’s gonna be very excited.”
A belated follow-up to The Karate Kid films, Cobra Kai starred Ralph Macchio and William Zabka as one-time teenage karate rivals Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence, respectively. Decades away from their 1980s enmity, they find themselves in conflict again when they open their own warring dojos. The series ran for six seasons and 65 episodes, premiering in 2018 on now-defunct streaming service YouTube Red before concluding on Netflix.
What Is ‘Big Trouble in Little China’ About?
Russell stars as macho trucker Jack Burton, who attempts to come to the rescue when Miao Yin (Suzee Pai), the fiancée of his pal Wang Chi (Dennis Dun), gets abducted by a local gang. Thanks to lawyer Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall), they trace the abduction to David Lo Pan (James Hong), a respected elderly businessman who’s actually an immortal sorcerer. They’re no match for his powers, or for the three mighty elemental warriors in his service: Thunder (Carter Wong), Rain (Peter Kwong), and Lightning (Pax). What’s more, Lo Pan now plans to take Gracie as his bride…and he’s stolen Jack’s beloved truck, the Pork Chop Express. Jack and Wang are going to have to team up with eccentric wizard and tour bus driver Egg Shen (Victor Wong) to take down Lo Pan once and for all. While the movie was not a box office success upon its release in 1986, it has since become a cult classic.
Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
- Release Date
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May 30, 1986
- Runtime
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99 minutes
- Writers
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Gary Goldman, David Z. Weinstein, W.D. Richter
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