Slowly but surely, Sony is still moving forward with a sequel to the 2010 remake The Karate Kid.  It’s been a few years since we’ve heard solid word regarding the project, but it appears that the studio is keen on getting it off the ground now as Deadline reports that Breck Eisner has been set as the director.  Harald Zwart (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones) directed the first film with Jaden Smith assuming the lead role and Jackie Chan playing his mentor.  Against a $40 million budget, the pic grossed $176.5 million stateside and an impressive $182.5 million overseas, ensuring that a follow-up will have crossover appeal in international markets.  Hit the jump for more on the follow-up. 

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Per Deadline, Smith and Chan will reprise their roles from the first film, but no plot information is known at this time.  Last we heard, Kung Fu Panda scribes Cyrus Voris and Ethan Reiff had been tapped to pen the screenplay, but it's possible that subsequent drafts have been written since then.  Smith was only 11 years old when the first pic was released but he's 15 now, so he'll presumably be able to pack quite a bigger punch this time around.

Eisner hasn’t directed a feature since the 2010 horror film The Crazies, but he’s certainly been attached to a number of projects over the past few years including Stretch Armstrong.  He most recently signed on to helm Vin Diesel in the fantasy actioner The Last Witch Hunter, but it’s unclear whether Karate Kid 2 would precede that project.  One imagines Sony wants to get going on the Karate Kid sequel sooner rather than later, so Witch Hunter might have to wait a bit.

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