Legends" won't knock "Lilo & Stitch" off the top spot this weekend, but it could be a modest mid-budget success that helps keep the box office riding high heading into June. Starring Jackie Chan and franchise forefather Ralph Macchio alongside "American Born Chinese" star Ben Wang,

Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan marry two different versions of the Karate Kid-iverse into one endless sports-movie montage.

By now, the ’80s-born franchise starring Ralph Macchio has accommodated multiple sequels and spinoffs, but a too-busy sequel should have gone its own way.

It didn’t occur to Ben Wang right away that in taking on “Karate Kid: Legends,” he’d be the franchise’s first Asian American “Kid.” And that gives him a lot of optimism.

Famous movie star and martial arts legend Jackie Chan stars in the new film Karate Kid Legends out in cinemas now. The actor is known for his incredible stunts and acrobatics, and in the new film he has to train Disney actor Ben Wang to be the next Karate Kid.

The latest sequel refreshes a franchise with hybrid action that splices together pleasures from the 1984 original and its 2010 remake.

Stepping into a beloved cinematic universe, Wang says his enthusiasm for the project outweighed any fear of costarring with screen legends. “Jackie Chan, he was my first idea of what an actor is, as a kid is,” the American Born Chinese star says. The 2010 film “was like perfection for me. Jaden Smith was so great in it.”

Legends" is steeped in nostalgia, which helps paper over a formulaic script and the strange reality that its domestic scenes are more effective than its fight action. It opens with a scene between a young Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Mr.