Ben Wang, Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan premiere latest 'Karate Kid' film

Ralph Marchio and Jackie Chan walk the Karate Kid legends red carpet in New York

Marchio reprises his legendary role alongside Chan who stars as a kung fu teacher

Chan who has done his share of martial arts movies talked about how important the first Karate Kid was to him

At that time, funny thing, I was very depressed. Action movie not popular anymore

And I just tried to quit. Then I saw Karate Kid brings me back

At the same time, the Rocky, Rocky 1. Rocky, Rocky 1, I said, wow, yes, I have to do the best I can

You know, brings me back all the confidence. I keep training, keep training. Then until one day, one director called me to do the movie

Then success. Becoming Jackie Chan. Thank you, Rocky, thank you karate kid, first one

Ben Wang starts as a young Kung Fu student who relocates to New York City with his mother

to attend a new school. Not long after he finds himself being challenged by a local karate champion What I love the most about this series is that this franchise of film more than any other I think there this idea that anybody can be the Karate Kid

And so, you know, me now being through the legacy of the franchise, the originals and

the Jaden Smith and then with Cobra Kai and now me here, I think it's just sort of..

Machio talks about how important representation is to the Karate Kid franchise

I think it's very important because it just shows, it's just more diverse and it gives a more diverse story

You know, being in New York, a kid from Beijing in New York, New York is a city melting pot

That's another element to it, you know. As long as the themes are true and it stays that connective tissue, that karate kid's connective tissue

that I enjoy paying that legacy forward. But I think it is important

We started with Pat Morita, you know, in that first film dealing with the Japanese internment camps, World War II

These are things that make this movie more than just a popcorn franchise

I want Lee to learn. Karate Kid Legends premieres in theaters on Friday

You have a foundation of Kung Fu. We're going to build upon that with karate