How do you top perfection? You attached Will Smith to star and get Steven Spielberg to produce - and yes, I'm being sarcastic. While a legal battle looms over the remake rights, the dynamic duo are still working hard at getting a remake of Park Chan-wook's masterpiece Oldboy into theaters. You can read all about it below, and feel free to chime in and talk about what a travesty this is with other B-D members (maybe I'll join ya').
Steven Spielberg and Will Smith are moving forward with plans for a remake of "Old Boy" (it's OLDBOY" fools!) despite a complex, behind-the-scenes rights wrangle involving the Japanese publishers of the original manga and the Korean producers of Park Chan-Wook's 2003 cult hit.
Futabasha, publisher of the manga by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya, has filed a case against Show East in Seoul, alleging the Korean company never had the right to negotiate a remake.
The issue is further complicated by the fact that Show East has shut down and its CEO, Kim Dong-Ju, has disappeared. Big Egg, a co-producer of the ultra-violent revenge flick, has also closed up shop, and its former staffers are unreachable.
"We haven't been able to confirm that Show East is bankrupt, and at this stage we're not sure what effect this will have on the legal case," said a spokesperson from Futabasha in Tokyo, who noted that legal proceedings had begun last week.
South Korean sales company Cineclick Asia, which represented Show East's "Oldboy" in international territories, actually negotiated the remake deal with Universal.
Universal brought in Roy Lee's Vertigo Entertainment, which has made a specialty of Asian film remakes, to produce the picture, and then Mandate acquired the rights from Universal.
DreamWorks, in one of its first moves in the wake of its November separation from Paramount, secured remake rights from Mandate, which remains involved in the project.
DreamWorks had no comment on the dispute between Futubasha and Show East.
Once again I say what the hell does it matter? We've all seen the original millions of times and it won't change anything about. And I'm sure when this remake finally does come out it'll be advertised like crazy all over this site and everyone will still go and see it.
It's actually been in the works since 2005. I have the script for the remake (draft dated April 21st 2005), but I haven't read it yet. It's being written by Ernesto M. Foronda and Fabian Marquez. It'll probably get rewrites though, considering the script is 4 years old.
why are they even reporting this on this site? old boy is not a fucking horror movie, and neither will the remake! who fucking cares if they remake it.. not allot of ppl even saw the original one... its good, i dont give a fuck if they do... just report horror news please,
Will Smith in the lead role? Steven Spielberg as producer? They should call it Old Boy: The Cheap Cash-in! This is all about money. Fuck Spielberg and fuck Will Smith, I'm getting sick of those rich assholes making shit movies left and right. I can't blame them that they want to make money but it is what it is.
BTW, Further Proof this is just a cash-in, Smith is a horrible choice for this movie! Just plain horrible! Totally miss casted.. Who wants to see a watered down PG-13 piece of shit version of the original? No one.... and I didn't even like the original that much!
So from now on when I ask most people about Oldboy they'll assume I'm talking about that godawful WIll Smith vehicle. Thanks Hollywood. Next up...Dane Cook in Citizen Kane.
if they were making an earnest attempt at an adaptation, i'd be more supportive. turning it into a starring vehicle for will smith, though, immediately kills any shred of legitimacy it might have otherwise had. what a disappointment.
Americangods - That's exactly how I feel about telling everyone I love the Office. Right away they assume it's the American version, which is godawful! Ricky Gervais is a billion times more funny than Steve Carell could ever dream of being.
this is going to be the worst shit on the planet. Not looking forward to even having to see adverts about this remake. They need to leave so many movies, such as this one alone.
Real shame they are running out of ideas for old movies to rip off so they are just redoing ones not that old. And Im sorry, spieldberg makes me really not want to see this. Everything he has done has been shit for along time now, whatever magic and inegrity he used to have is gone now and replaced with computer graphics computers and brainless action. If george lucas and michael bay had a child, it would be stephen spieldberg (post jurrasic park of course)
"why are they even reporting this on this site? old boy is not a fucking horror movie, and neither will the remake! who fucking cares if they remake it.. not allot of ppl even saw the original one... its good, i dont give a fuck if they do... just report horror news please,"
I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but the Revenge sub genre has been a part of the horror genre for almost 40 years.
i think the thing to remember here is that Steven Spielberg said he LOVED the original....and while there are not a lot of movies in his catalogue of directed/produced that are rated R, there still are a few...he knows when to make a movie R and when to make it PG-13, so i'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, because he's Steven Spielberg, and if anyone can ensure an R rating its him....as for Will Smith, did everyone forget about Ali? the Pursuit of Happyness? He can act, unlike some other action movie stars. Just because most of the movies he makes are giant tent-pole movies doesn't mean he doesn't know how give a great performance, or tackle drama.
I think if horror fans want this bullshit to stop, we need to get off (er... on) our asses and actually stay away from this shit. Obviously it will get some box-office as Smith is in it and Spielbergs name is on it... but we need to do what we can by NOT seeing this.
ps: No, it's not horror. You know what, though? The horror genre is getting its fair share of news like this, and the precedent needs to be set somehow. Discourage remakes and perhaps Suspiria will be left the fuck alone.
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Steven Spielberg and Will Smith are moving forward with plans for a remake of "Old Boy" (it's OLDBOY" fools!) despite a complex, behind-the-scenes rights wrangle involving the Japanese publishers of the original manga and the Korean producers of Park Chan-Wook's 2003 cult hit.
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