Karate Kid Chops The A-Team

Jaden Smith's a chip off the old box-office block as his 1980s redo kills with $56 mil opening weekend

Jaden Smith has well learned from the master. His father.

Showing the box-office moves of Will Smith, the 11-year-old kicked a disappointing summer back into gear with a fantastic $56 million Friday-Sunday debut for The Karate Kid.

As for The A-Team, the weekend's other major release—and 1980s revival… Well, it could've used some Smith family magic. 

The $100 million-ish adventure looked B-list with an underwhelming $26 million debut.

More results:

• The Karate Kid made its bank from families (45 percent of ticket buyers brought their own karate kids, an audience survey showed), and, interestingly, people who weren't yet born when the Ralph Macchio original was released in 1984 (56 percent of moviegoers were under 25).

• The A-Team, based on the 1983-87 TV series, never really had a chance of showing up The Karate Kid—not when The Karate Kid cost about $60 million less to produce.

• It's not surprising that The Karate Kid is the biggest opener of Jaden Smith's young career. It is surprising that the film debuted larger than all but two of his dad's movies.

• For those keeping score at home, The A-Team grossed $41 million worldwide.

• After three weekends at No. 1, Shrek Forever After ($15.8 million) slipped to third. It consoled itself by surpassing $200 million domestically.

• Iron Man 2 ($4.6 million) could cross the $300 million domestic mark on Monday.

• On the downside, Robin Hood ($2.7 million) fell from the Top 10 before hitting $100 million. On the upside, star Russell Crowe didn't fall from an Austrian mountain. That, and his movie has made nearly $300 million worldwide.

Here's a complete look at the weekend's top-grossing films, per Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. The Karate Kid, $56 million
2. The A-Team, $26 million
3. Shrek Forever After, $15.8 million
4. Get Him to the Greek, $10.1 million
5. Killers, $8.2 million
6. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, $6.6 million
7. Marmaduke, $6 million
8. Sex and the City 2, $5.5 million
9. Iron Man 2, $4.6 million
10. Splice, $2.9 million