How ‘Karate Kid: Legends' filmed climactic fight on NYC skyscraper: director
Wax on, wax off.
The latest movie in the 'Karate Kid' franchise, 'Karate Kid: Legends,' ended with a dramatic fight — that included hundreds of background actors.
'We had 650 extras in there on the [sound] stage for that sequence, to really sell it,' director Jonathan Entwistle exclusively told The Post.
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11 Ben Wang as Li in 'Karate Kid: Legends.'
©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
11 Ming-Na Wen, Wyatt Oleff, Ralph Macchio, Ben Wang, Joshua Jackson, Jackie Chan, Sadie Stanley in 'Karate Kid: Legends.'
©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
11 Li (Ben Wang) and Connor (Aramis Knight) fighting on top of a skyscraper in 'Karate Kid: Legends.'
Columbia Pictures
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'Karate Kid: Legends' follows a new character, Li (Ben Wang), who has trained in Kung Fu with martial arts master Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), who was friends with the late Mr. Miyagi (Nariyoshi Miyagi).
When his mom moves him from China to New York, Li befriends local Pizzeria owner Victor (Joshua Jackson) and crushes on Victor's teen daughter, Mia (Sadie Stanley).
Eventually, Li finds himself in a karate tournament, facing off against Mia's aggressive ex-boyfriend, Connor (Aramis Knight). Mr. Han comes to help Li train, since he knows Kung Fu but not karate, and also entreats original 'Karate Kid' Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) to help train Li.
11 Ralph Macchio, Jackie Chan and Ben Wang attend the 'Karate Kid: Legends' Photocall at Trafalgar Square on May 20, 2025.
Getty Images for Sony Pictures
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11 Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio in 'Karate Kid: Legends.'
©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
11 Ralph Macchio in 1984's 'Karate Kid.'
Li and Connor's climatic fight takes place on top of a fake New York City skyscraper — filmed on a soundstage.
'We filmed using the volume technology,' he explained, referring to the visual effects technology that's also been used on shows like 'The Mandalorian' and 'House of the Dragon.'
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'The whole skyscraper building with the elevator and all of those things – we built it for real on a stage. And then we built big 40-foot screens all the way around this set.'
11 Ben Wang on top of an NYC skyscraper for the final climactic fight in 'Karate Kid: Legends.'
Columbia Pictures
11 Director Jonathan Entwistle talking to The Post for 'Karate Kid: Legends.'
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11 Li (Ben Wang) during the fight on top of an NYC skyscraper.
©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
He said production then went to New York City, 'and we found the exact pinpoint position in Manhattan where we could take the camera and the drones all the way up – to get the exact skyline that we wanted at the exact same time of day.'
Once they captured the New York City skyline footage they wanted, they filmed for over 24 hours to 'get all the sky versions.'
Once they got the footage, 'we tweaked the sunset to get a most perfect sunset with the most perfect New York skyline to be able to work with that. Because it's very important for me that the movie felt like it was in New York.'
11 Ralph Macchio, Ben Wang and Jackie Chan in 'Karate Kid: Legends.'
©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
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11 Ben Wang (L) and Ralph Macchio promote the upcoming film 'Karate Kid: Legends' at the Sony Pictures Entertainment presentation during CinemaCon, the official convention of Cinema United, at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on March 31, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Getty Images
'By New York, I mean Manhattan – kind of Flatiron [building] adjacent. That's New York for the vast majority of people in the world,' he explained to The Post. 'I was, like, 'let's make it feel like we were right in the middle there.''
The epic fight sequence took about two weeks to film. And because they were on a soundstage with 40 foot screens displaying their Manhattan skyline footage, production 'had a perpetual sunset.'
'Karate Kid: Legends' is in theaters now.
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