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Talk about a film that does NOT need to be remade. It's perfect as is!

i agree, Samantha. Choi Min-Sik (who played Dae-su Oh in the original) put in the kind of knuckle chewing, gut wrenching (and, let's not forget, live octopus eating) performance rarely seen these days in cinema. it was a De Niro / Taxi Driver level performance that even someone of the improving calibre of Will Smith (i think he has got a lot better in recent years) would surely think twice about trying to emulate. maybe he wants a role with a bit more meat on it? who knows, perhaps this remake is a fait accompli, as you suggest, Alex, but i am still at a loss to understand why the immediate reaction to a great film in a foreign language with subtitles is, 'let's remake it.' i guess that's why i'm never going to be a hollywood executive. Oldboy was a fucked up film, but in the best way conceivable. as for this possible remake, i just hope there aren't adorable little children or aliens in this. if AI: Articifial Intelligence is anything to go by, Spielberg is certainly no slave to (in that case, Kubrick's) precedent.

Ive no problems with Spielberg directing this but Will Smith ? I like the guy but how will he ever pull off this one ? I always pictured Gary Oldman as a perfect Oh Dae-su. Is it confirmed that Smith is going for the Dae-su ? Cause I think he would be a perfect Woo-jin Lee, the "bad guy" in the original.

I wonder how Spielberg will fit the aliens into the plot...

#6 has a good point. Smith would be a really good choice for the bad guy.

WHAT?! NOOOOOOO!!!! I just ordered the orginal, and its one of the best films I`ve ever seen. Why oh why would they wanna remake this??? theres no way the remake could ever beat the first. God what the flying fuck convinced steve speilberg and will smith that this was a good idea???????? =(

EPIC FAIL For the love of god stop will smith from destroying good things. First it was I Am Legend and now this. And the same problem lies here.....I Am Legend was a great story American audiences wouldn't have accepted much like Oldboy. So they changed it up and it was crap. That is all.

I hate hollywood. Now every American and there Mom will have no desire to see the originals. This vengence trilogy are the best I've seen of it's genre, it would be a shame to see this one Americanized. Some films have too much of their culture in the them for it to transfer well in a remake. In my opinion Spielbergs time has passed and same with many directors of his generation. When someone just resorts to making half-assed American remakes and cashing in on thier franchise (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) to make shitty sequels they have lost my respect and my money. Hollywood is very cheap, if all they want to do is run on existing materials and not write anything original then I really don't care what they have to offer. Yes, Will Smith is a great actor, but Hollywood is dumb to think that he can be cut and pasted into any roll they want (I am Legend). So, NO this film should not be made.

Oh no. This is horrible

The only plus side to this story is that more people will be exposed to the Proper Oldboy and more of Parks Work. Hopefully they will seek out the rest of the trilogy or see "i am a cyborg, but thats ok" or at least JSA. That is the only Plus to this story.

Slashfilm made a good point in that this is a film that definitely will be remade whether we like it or not, so we can only hope that we get the best treatment possible for it. So, as much as I think Spielberg has the technical capabilities to remake this, I can't imagine him keeping the plot intact. If you guys saw the Indian remake (Zinda), they curbed the final plot points in a way that made it less taboo while taking a lot of the impact out of the film. I would hate to see that happen under Spielberg's direction. And yes, Will Smith would be terrible for this. He's too nice for this film. Oldman, as someone mentioned, would be fantastic if he could channel his old Stansfield character.

Never heard of the Movie....Sounds interesting...If anything, the remakes steers people, that care about such things, to the source material..Nothing wrong with that. A great movie can exist in foreign film, but only fan boys and the like will know about it. A remake is made and suddenly it's playing in cinemax for all to enjoy...Not a bad thing...and who knows, Spielberg and Smith might make something special that can be judge separately from the source material. I will reserve judgment till it exist. In the mean time, I am going to see the Original this weekend somehow, sounds like a fun watch.

I love, love, love Steven Spielberg, but I can't see this working at all, at least not with an actor as cuddly and likeable as Will Smith. If it happens he'd really have to stretch himself with this one, but maybe that's the reason for his interest, so perhaps it's worth cutting him some slack. Spielberg, on the other hand, has already shown he can work well in pretty much any genre in recent years, so the 'he'll put cute kids and aliens in it' remarks are fatuous at best. But still... it just seems to me that any western remake would emasculate the original. For one thing, surely the tight animal welfare regulations in America wouldn't allow for a scene as shocking as the infamous live squid sequence?

It's so hard to decide how this will work out. The manga started excellent and slowly declined to boredom, and the movie was very entertaining. I think big budget would really hurt this one

why dont they cast gary oldman as the lead he could make it work

This doesn't need to be remade. Oldboy surprised the hell out of me, and is one of my favorite movies period. Plus, I'm so sick of Will Smith. I've never been impressed with any of his work, and still to this day don't understand why he's praised so much. Just the fact that it's Will Smith is why I won't be seeing it at the theater. I may rent it to see what goes on but..........yeah. Not gonna waste my time. GARY OLDMAN COULD PULL IT OFF THOUGH. GARY OLDMAN CAN DO NO WRONG

And I do NOT like the idea of Will Smith in the lead. Don't ask me why, I'm just gettin' kinda tired of the guy. But we'll have to wait and see how it turns out.

#31, that is maybe the most egregious spoiler I've ever seen. Can you or a mod edit that comment. It's be a shame to ruin this amazing movie for those people that get drawn to it with the news of a remake. That would defeat the only thing good about this news.

Just like the South Park episode about Indiana Jones, Spielberg is taking a good idea and raping it, ruining what is was. And Will Smith, I can't see him saying, "hey, I'd love to play this part."

Hollywood, First off, let me explain that the very existence of my nature is to create and enjoy art. Now tell me why it is that Hollywood puts a dollar sign on everything that steps foot in its boundaries? Are there any filmmakers these days that actually want to create art or is everybody so worried about making millions of dollars and becoming famous that they forget the whole point of art? For instance, I deem the Korean masterpiece “Oldboy” as my favorite movie of all time (alongside “Braveheart”). They are my favorite films because in my opinion, there is absolutely nothing anybody change about them to make them better films. I’m also obsessed with movies. I’ve seen around 6,500 movies, if not more, in the past five years. I’m an artist obsessed with beauty. I found out today that “Oldboy” is going to be remade by Steven Spielberg. The thing that upsets me the most is the fact that Hollywood is once again ruining an already perfect film in order to make some quick cash. It wouldn’t bother me as much as it does had Steven Spielberg not decided to cast Will Smith as the lead character, Oh Dae-Su. The problem with replacing Min-sik Choi with the American version, Will Smith, is that Will’s acting style is NOTHING like Min-sik Choi’s. He is, for the most part, a mainstream actor that makes blockbuster films, not artistic films. The troubling part to all this madness is Steven Spielberg, which generally makes blockbuster films for the mainstream audience, is not obsessed with upholding a perfected script, by perfected performances, to make a perfected film, which has in the past, already been perfected. You see, Spielberg, a GREAT director in my opinion, made “Saving Private Ryan” and “Schindler’s List”, masterpieces. Those films are masterpieces and if another director were to remake those films, it would be the same exact thing as to what he’s doing with the already master pieced, “Oldboy”. It’s like taking Abraham Lincoln out of office and replacing him with George W. Bush Jr. The biggest problem to remaking “Oldboy” in my belief is that Hollywood has a way of undermining the graphic details of foreign masterpieces in order to tame the essence of the film so they may reach more viewers. The eating of the live squid and sleeping with the daughter will most assuredly be pulled out for being too “graphic” for American audiences and allowing the film to be more “mainstream” and pull in more cash at the box office. It’s scenes like this that are the essence of “Oldboy” and if they are taken out for the American version of the remake, then I rest my case. For now, only time will tell but I will forever ridicule Hollywood for its lack of respect towards art. I hope one day that my own films will bring light to artistic film making once again and open doors to all that are also against the morals of Hollywood’s unoriginal get quick schemes. This blog is based on my opinion only and I write it to make a point that not everybody has to follow the mainstream crowd. I still love some of Steven Spielberg’s work but don’t necessarily believe Will Smith even remotely comes close to the type of actor that should be cast as the lead, Oh Dae-su. I also pray, wish, and hope that Spielberg doesn’t take away the essence that is “Oldboy” or I will forever hold a silent grudge in my head for the rest of my life on Earth. Long live art over m

Will Smith sucks. I just saw The Day The Earth Stood Still and it was okay until Will Smith's dumb kid popped his annoying head up every five minutes. I'm assuming that "Will-you please go away already-Smith" must have invested a large sum of money into production of the film to get his no talent kid into the script. BORING!!! Retire already, Mr. Smith.

I have faith in both Spielberg and Smith, but they don't have a chance in hell in doing this movie well AT ALL. With Smith doesn't have the balls for this role, and neither Spielberg for directing. Americans aren't ready for this movie. WORST IDEA EVER

Jesus Holy Christ of Latter Day Saints! Speilberg and Smith remaking "Oldboy"??? This is worse than when I heard joel schumacher wanting to remake Schindler's List! (Schumacher already said that Oskar Schindler's business suit will have nipples). I'm sure Speilberg will have Smith chasing his cut off tongue across the room as wind and cars cause it to bounce around as Smith tries to put it back in his mouth. Oh, and all the merchandise tie-in's! Just think Crest will be on board, as teeth are a big part of this movie! Reece's Pieces might even make a comeback! And just imagine the great robot acting by Nicole Kidman playing "Mi-do"??!! The good thing is that Kidman will never change her expression, so the "Test Audiences" will not get confused.

I don't understand this mentality. The original movie was hands down a masterpiece and uncopyable. Why don't they remake a movie that has potential to be better instead of trying to half-ass an original work. Seriously, Spielberg used to put some art in his film (Raiders of the lost Ark), but now it seems like he doesn't give a shit about the art aspect and wants to butcher the reputation of a great film.

this really upsets me. i pray that steven and will dont get the rights to remake this. i hope no one does. it doesnt need to be remade. at least give it to a director that could do a decent remake of it. i mean shit, tarantino praises this movie as one of the best. give it to him. he understands it and has much love and respect for the film. he'd probably do a better job than anyone else. but he also probably agrees that it doenst need to be remade and would just leave it alone. why do we keep ruining such great foreign films? can't we just leave them alone?

Foreign filmmakers need to secure their rights to their works, so sad, sad stuff like remakes does not happen. And if americans wont read subtitles-their loss.

I have never seen the original so I won't say its a good or bad idea to remake it. I'm not a huge fan of remakes anyways.... But the facts are Spielberg is the greatest living director (yes better than Scorcesse) and he always dives deep into his stories and characters. Spielberg is not an idiot and knows his own capabilities. And for people talking about aliens all the time you are idiots because spielberg is much more than scifi. Just because he has made the best scifi movies of all time doesn't mean thats all he is if you have forgotten saving private ryan schindler's list amistad the color purple catch me if you can the terminal indiana jones munich and many more. Pull your heads out. As for Will Smith i will just agree haha. But the point is, don't rip spielberg because he has an amazing ability to tell a story and they are always very very well made in terms of all the below the line catagories. SUCK IT

Speilberg's a hack! Go look up his movies, most of them are stupid, and made for retards. The only movies Speilberg takes seriously are the WWII movies, otherwise, you get: #Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) Sucks ass, and ruined the other movies. # War of the Worlds (2005) Lame, everybody fell asleep. # The Terminal (2004) I actually shot myself just to get out of finishing this disaster movie. # Catch Me If You Can (2002) This was okay. Performances made the movie. # Minority Report (2002) Sucks the mighty big one. Watching Tom Cruise doing mime, and then later chasing his eyeball around was embarrassing. # Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001) Are you kidding? # The Unfinished Journey (1999) Unfinished Movie. # Amistad (1997) Speilberg mocking slavery showing it wasn't as important as WWII. # The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) More like "The Lost Brain" # Jurassic Park (1993) People like this movie more than me, I guess everybody likes dinosaurs. # Hook (1991) I'm not letting him off the hook for this sinker. # Always (1989) This movie will always suck. # Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) "Even Iyesh Thinksh Thish Movie Shucks"-Sean Connery. I mean, really?! That's 20 f'n years of shit minus WWII movies! THIS is the brilliant director you think of??!!! The worst part of about it, Spielberg has the ability to be great, but he depends on gimmicks, special effects, and dumbing down his movies to lowest common denominator!! He basically makes kids movies for adults. He's the bearded Disney. Do you really think he's going to take a Japanese "comic book cartoon movie" seriously like the original director did?! Especially with Will (don't call me Wil) Smith? Did anybody see Wild, Wild, West, or how about "I Am Legend" where the ENTIRE point of the movie was changed in the ending! Smith puts a lot of crap out there too. Do I really need to go through his movies too?? Maybe Adam Sandler and Dane Cook will be inspired to remake "Hard Boiled".