And so the Summer tentpole blockbuster plans for the OLDBOY remake continues. The Hollywood Reporter say Mark Protosevich (I AM LEGEND, POSEIDON) is in talks with Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks to come up with a screenplay for the redo of the 2003 Chan-wook Park Korean classic.
As we mentioned two weeks ago, Will Smith is attached to lead and produce with Spielberg directing. All signs pointed towards a July 4th, watered down blockbuster and hiring the man who wrote the words which helped Smith make $584 million for Warner Bros. last year with I AM LEGEND, is further sad evidence of this.
Dreamworks are still trying to hatch a deal with Mandate who own the rights to the original film, who quite understandably are wanting to get a good deal out of this because a Smith/Spielberg combination should be huge.
Now I was in favour of I AM LEGEND, I thought it was a pretty good adaptation. It was only about 40% of the power of the original novel but the heart of it was still there and if it was an original screenplay, I think more people would have dug it.
What it did show was that Protovosich can deliver a studio friendly version of a dark tale and isn’t afraid to change things from the source material to suit Hollywood requirements. That’s not a good sign but in turn, he showed he could write material that Will Smith could really run with and give a good performance to.
9 Comments
This is gonna be total bullshit.
A Blockbuster remake with Will Smiths, will be nowhere as dark and angry as the original (still one of the best korean movies ever).
I hate those remakes.
Once again … hahahaha.
Such an idiotic idea. I can’t wait to download it and have a laugh. =)
I wonder if Smith will eat squid.
I am legend didn’t do anything to me. this will neither.
40% as powerful as the original story? Really? I’d say more like about 5%. Yeah his name was Neville and the things were “vampiric.” That’s about where the similarities ended. The story was called I Am Legend because of the fact that he was the only human left alive. He had become a legend in the new society the vampires had established. With that the being the actual point of the story I’d say that almost none of the heart was left in that movie and they should be ashamed to even call the movie I Am Legend. It was a slap in the face to anyone that is a fan of Matheson’s work.
That being said, this project has no hope whatsoever and will be utter trash.
the master will not approve
Old boy is one of my favourite films, now is a cult classic and have fans all over the world. It´s a good idea to remake this great and new (2004) film? Not even Spielberg is right for this job, remember War of the worlds?
Old boy is a perfect movie, it don´t need a remake.
If all they did was re-release it, it would be okay. Honestly, just throw someone’s name on it like they did with Hero and Quentin Tarantino. It will draw people just because of who is presenting it at that point you know?
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE !!!! This ain’t no James Brown song, this is a GREAT MOVIE !!!! Now i think Will is a great actor and Steven S is a great director, but in no shape or form can this be done! The plot twist which made the movie so great CAN’T be done by those two. Now even if they didn’t change that, can you see the headlines Smith would get. I won’t say but those of us who have seen OLDBOY know the reaction he would get.
Do a movie but get a original %$#!@ idea ,leave OLDBOY alone!