We recently celebrated the prospect that pending legal proceedings could potentially hinder the progress of Steven Spielberg and Will Smith’s ridiculous and unnecessary remake of Park Chan-Wook’s “Oldboy” (look, there’s just no need for it, let alone a watered-down American version). Those celebrations, however, have now been revealed to be premature and unfounded.
Previously, the publisher of the “Oldboy” comic, Futabasha, had filed a case against the production company who reportedly dealt with Universal for the remake rights, Show East. Now, according to Reuters, Show East has shut down its operations, is possibly bankrupt and has had its CEO literally gone missing. Furthermore, a sales company, Cineclick Asia, have come forth as the negotiator for the remake deal with things now back on track for Universal as the rights have ended up in their hands via Mandate and Vertigo Entertainment.
We’re not 100% sure what all that legal whiz-bang means but the bottom line is this: we’re going need some serious divine intervention to stop this now. Someone, please.
Originally written by manga writers, Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya, “Old Boy” is a very twisted story of revenge about a man kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years seemingly for random reasons. When the imprisoned man is finally released, he discovers he must find his captor’s motives in 5 days or the abductor will kill a recent female friend that innocent man has made. Considering how diabolical and transgressive the ending is (elements of incest), it seems doubtful that popcorn-aesthetes like Smith and Spielberg could deliver something up to snuff.
The film was the second installment of Chan Wook’s “Vengeance Trilogy” and won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004, second only to Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” which won the Palme d’Or that year.