Steven Spielberg and Will Smith are moving forward with plans for a remake of “Old Boy” despite a complex, behind-the-scenes rights wrangle involving the Japanese publishers of the original manga and the Korean producers of Park Chan-Wook’s 2003 cult hit.

Futabasha, publisher of the manga by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya, has filed a case against Show East in Seoul, alleging the Korean company never had the right to negotiate a remake.

The issue is further complicated by the fact that Show East has shut down and its CEO, Kim Dong-Ju, has disappeared. Big Egg, a co-producer of the ultra-violent revenge flick, has also closed up shop, and its former staffers are unreachable. (more…)

It’s been several months since we last heard about Steven Spielberg’s plans to adapt the popular manga “Oldboy” into a live-action film starring Will Smith, but fans of both the manga and the original live-action adaptation released in 2003 have been buzzing about whether the edgy story will be softened for American audiences.

With the film and the original manga well-known for their disturbing themes — a crucial plot point involves incest — and graphic violence, is the typically family-friendly Spielberg up to the task of staying true to the dark, violent nature of the story?

“It’s the thing that Steven was attracted to,” Smith told MTV News. “We’re working from the comic and we haven’t done anything other than talk about it. So we’ll see what happens, but he’s not going to do anything that would be less than stunning.”
Source: MTV.com