Lionsgate Tv introduced on Wednesday that the studio is about to supply an English-language tv adaptation of Park-chan Wook’s 2003 thriller Oldboy. The film, one of the vital mesmerizing, memorable darkish motion motion pictures of the 2000s, began a brand new wave of Korean motion cinema when it was first launched. It’s since spawned infinite copycats and homages — significantly its grim, bloody single-take hammer-in-a-hallway combat sequence, which filmmakers nonetheless often cite as an inspiration for their very own battle scenes in constricted areas. A 4K restoration was launched in American theaters in 2023, and got here in second on the field workplace in its first week, overwhelmed solely by Barbie. Spike Lee remade the film as an English-language thriller in 2013, however it’s by no means been tailored for tv earlier than.
Oldboy’s story follows a drunken Korean salaryman, Dae-su Oh (Choi Min-sik) who wakes up after a bender to seek out he’s been imprisoned in a run-down room in a dilapidated lodge. His captors don’t converse to him — his solely interplay with them comes within the type of meals trays, and occasional haircuts and different bodily upkeep after he’s been drugged. They maintain him for 15 years, as his thoughts disintegrates and he hones his physique for struggle. Then they abruptly launch him onto a rooftop, with no clarification. The remainder of the movie is a mix thriller and revenge thriller, as he tries to seek out out why this occurred to him, and punish his captors.
The movie is loosely primarily based on an eight-volume manga collection by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi. The unique Japanese story goes into significantly extra depth with the characters, has a extra typical gangster-underground taste, and takes the plot in a distinct route. Lionsgate’s announcement doesn’t specify whether or not the brand new present will draw on the components of the manga that Park didn’t use, and no showrunner or forged has been introduced but. Park Chan-wook and his producing accomplice Syd Lim will produce the collection.
Park spent many years in motion pictures, directing movies like his signature Vengeance Trilogy (Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Sympathy for Girl Vengeance), the plush ebook adaptation The Handmaiden, the darkish, humorous vampire tragedy Thirst, and 2022’s terrific Determination to Go away. Since 2018, he’s been increasing into tv, producing the collection model of Snowpiercer and directing and producing two spy thrillers adapting celebrated novels: the 2018 AMC miniseries The Little Drummer Lady, and the brand new HBO thriller The Sympathizer, starring Robert Downey Jr.
Lionsgate didn’t present many particulars in regards to the deliberate Oldboy TV adaptation — a showrunner and forged haven’t but been introduced, and the preliminary press launch didn’t deal with attainable instructions or storylines. A launch date has not been set.