THE KARATE KID Becomes 2010′s First Sleeper Hit; THE A-TEAM Disappoints: Box Office

Jaden Smith as Dre Parker in The Karate Kid

Just last week, film experts everywhere were saying how American moviegoers wanted something new, fresh, original. It seems like they've finally got it: Harald Zwart's The Karate Kid, starring Jaden Smith (Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith's son), Jackie Chan, and Taraji P. Henson.

The Karate Kid grossed a surprisingly strong (estimated) $56m over the weekend, according to Box Office Mojo. That's nearly twice what many had been predicting.

But wait, The Karate Kid is a remake of a 26-year-old movie directed by John G. Avildsen, and starring Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita; one that for the most part received less-than-enthusiastic reviews from 2010 film critics. Well, that says a lot about the kind of new, fresh, original material audiences are supposed to be craving for.

Anyhow, 2010 has its first official sleeper hit — The Karate Kid cost about $40m — although it's still too early to tell how far the fighting underdog tale will go. Word of mouth, as per CinemaScore, has been good: a straight A.

At a distant no. 2, Joe Carnahan's The A-Team earned an estimated $26m — or less than half The Karate Kid collected. Starring Bradley Cooper, Liam Neeson, and Sharlto Copley, the $100m-budgeted action flick is doomed to become a major loser for Fox unless it performs very well overseas.

A bad sign: The A-Team's box-office take went down on both Saturday and Sunday. Another bad sign (and a sign of bad scheduling): it opened to only $15m at 35 international markets, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Something called the World Cup is going on, after all.

Down two spots at no. 3, former box-office champ Shrek Forever After, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Eddie Murphy, and Julie Andrews, grossed about $15.8m. Total to date: $210m.

At no. 4, Jonah Hill and Russell Brand's comedy Get Him to the Greek collected $10.5m (down an acceptable 42.5% from a week ago). Total: $36.5m (cost: $40m).

Starring Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, Killers was the no. 5 movie with $8.17m (-48.4%). Total: $30.67m (cost $75m). Lionsgate can't be too happy with those figures. But at least the $30m Killers has earned overseas has helped to offset its downbeat domestic figures.

Photo: The Karate Kid (Jasin Boland / Columbia Pictures)