Will Smith and Steven Spielberg Abandoning Oldboy Remake?
This should make more than a few people happy. After last year’s announcement that Spielberg wanted to produce a remake of Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy with Will Smith in the lead role, people freaked out insisting that this is one masterpiece that should not be marred by a watered-down American retelling. Eventually Smith tried to re-assure people by saying that it would be a different movie based on the original manga instead, but still doubts persisted.
This week the folks over at Latino Review bring a pleasant update on the project indicating that it may be officially kaput. According to their source, Dreamworks and international distributor Mandate Pictures “didn’t see eye to eye”, and so Dreamworks simply walked away from the flick. It’s unclear if they actually did acquire the rights to the original manga or not, but for the time being it looks like this is no longer happening. Does this make you want to jump for joy, or are you disappointed that we won’t get to see what Spielberg and Smith could have brought to the story?
Comments (10)
good! I might watch it tonight to celebrate
Posted by rus in chicago on November 10th, 2009Yeah, good idea
Posted by RaphNL on November 10th, 2009In a way, I was actually kind of disappointed when I heard the news. It would’ve been interesting to see Spielberg doing something like this.
Hopefully the plug gets pulled on the live-action Cowboy Bebop film featuring Keanwoah! Reeves.
Posted by Scott on November 10th, 2009I love Spielberg but this was not the movie for him. I would rather see Scoresese take on this film.
Posted by Captain N on November 10th, 2009I’m glad. As much as I respect Spielberg as a filmmaker, I believe Oldboy deserves to remain untouched.
Posted by David on November 11th, 2009So happy this is DEAD!
Posted by jaime on November 11th, 2009oh thank God! never completely bought the idea of the remake actually getting off the ground. it just wasn’t for will smith/spielberg.
Posted by Napalm on November 11th, 2009SOO glad this isn’t happening! Oldboy is too great to mess with, even for Spielburg
Posted by Liz on November 11th, 2009Hooray! Let the original film stand on it’s own! At least it created some good pub.
Posted by Wes on November 11th, 2009Thank God!
Posted by Marc on November 11th, 2009Leave a Reply