Spike Lee has released the first poster for his remake of Chan-wook Park’s live-action Oldboy film. In the remake, Josh Brolin plays Joe Doucett (the character that was originally named Oh Dae-su and played by Min-sik Choi in the Korean film), who is kidnapped, kept in solitary confinement for 20 years and then released with no explanation; Joe then goes on a mission to find who’s behind his imprisonment. The film open on 25 October in America and 6 December in the UK.

The film’s Facebook page also posted some teaser images:

The visuals are certainly similar to the original Korean live-action adaptation of Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi’s Oldboy manga. The story also seems to be a replica of the original, with only a few differences and character name changes. 

With such similarities to the original, this remake does seem fairly unnecessary, especially as Chan-wook Park’s film is such a captivating piece of cinema, and it’s a shame that the original can’t be left to stand on it’s own. Hollywood is simply trying to cash in on the success of the original, but will likely share little of it. Everyone should just watch the original.