I guess we can file this news under the “No Duh” department, but after the new The Karate Kid movie decimated all other box office competition with a $56 million opening weekend, Sony Pictures has now begun taking meetings with writers concerning a second installment.

I believe it is a simple case of dollars and cents. When a movie that costs $40 million makes $56 million the first weekend, you have a success. Of course, we haven’t even considered the overseas profits or the money that they will make from DVD sales. Love it or hate it, Sony has rebooted a successful franchise and will make even more money from this concept in the future.

Pat Morita, who starred in the “Karate Kid” movies and in such TV shows as “Happy Days,” died Thursday of natural causes in Las Vegas. He was 73.

He rose to fame as diner owner Arnold on “Happy Days” during the 1975-76 season. But he’s probably best remembered as the wise Karate teacher Mr. Miyagi in four “Karate Kid” movies, dispensing such immortal advice as “wax on, wax off.” He earned an Oscar nomination for the first “Karate Kid” movie in 1984.