{"id":213103,"date":"2026-03-20T16:33:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T16:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/213103\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T16:33:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T16:33:33","slug":"chuck-norris-once-starred-in-a-houston-movie-backed-by-a-local-legend-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/213103\/","title":{"rendered":"Chuck Norris once starred in a Houston movie backed by a local legend"},"content":{"rendered":"

The late actor Chuck Norris<\/a> once starred in a movie financed by Houston legend Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale.<\/p>\n

“Sidekicks,” which was shot in Houston in 1992, follows the story of a bullied, asthmatic teen, played by the late Jonathan Brandis, who managed to rope Norris into a Karate tournament with two of his friends.<\/p>\n

According to a 1993 report from the Los Angeles Times<\/a>, McIngvale poured $16 million into the movie. Box Office Mojo<\/a> reports the movie pulled in $250,003 in its open, and brought in a total of $17,180,393 in the box office.<\/p>\n

The LA Times reported that “Sidekicks” was the second biggest-grossing movie in the nation when it released.<\/p>\n

“Coming in second place is gratifying,” McIngvale is quoted in the report.<\/p>\n

The movie was filmed at various locations around Houston, including Lamar High School, Tranquility Park, the Wortham Theater Center, Texas Southern University, and more.<\/p>\n

The reviews for “Sidekicks” are mediocre. Critics on\u00a0Rotten Tomatoes<\/a> gave the film a 26%, while it has an overall audience score of 49%.<\/p>\n

Norris’ family announced the legendary actor’s death on his social media pages. They said he died on Thursday, March 19, 2026, surrounded by family.<\/p>\n

“To the world, he was a martial artist, actor, and a symbol of strength,” the post reads. “To us, he was a devoted husband, a loving father and grandfather, an incredible brother, and the heart to our family.”<\/p>\n

He was 86.<\/p>\n

Got a news tip or story idea? Email us at\u00a0newstips@khou.com<\/a>\u00a0or call 713-521-4310 and include your name and the best way to reach you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The late actor Chuck Norris once starred in a movie financed by Houston legend Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[83365,56,58,57,83416,83417,61614,4687],"class_list":["post-213103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-chuck-norris","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-jonathan-brandis","tag-karate-tournament","tag-lamar-high-school","tag-texas-southern-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}