Hollywood is notorious for some of the most pointless, cash-grab remakes, and nowhere is that more apparent than its attempts to adapt anime and manga. From the bonkers Dragonball Evolution to 2017’s limp Ghost in the Shell adaptation, the results are either an ill-conceived homage or a soulless shot-for-shot remake. Unlike those movies, it had everything going for it: a talented director, a strong cast, and an acclaimed premise that had already proven its effectiveness twice—first as a manga, then as an award-winning Korean thriller. It should have been a great movie, but something appears lost in translation.

Spike Lee’s Oldboy (2013) is a box office bomb and a critical failure that took everything that made the original masterpiece and dulled it into an uninspired retread. However, what many don’t realize is that Oldboy isn’t just a remake of the incredible Korean film from 2003—it’s an adaptation of a Japanese manga, Old Boy by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi, which inspired Park Chan-wook's masterpiece. When viewed through that lens, the utter failure that is Lee’s 2013 film becomes even more frustrating.

Oldboy Wasn’t Always Intended to be a Direct Remake of the Korean Film

Steven Spielberg Snatched Up the Rights to Adapt the Manga, or So He Thought

In 2008, DreamWorks acquired the rights to Old Boy, with Steven Spielberg and Will Smith attached to direct and star. Crucially, Spielberg’s adaptation was not going to be a remake of Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy, but rather a faithful take on the original manga. Early reports suggested that Spielberg was drawn to the manga’s more psychological and noir-driven approach, and his version would have focused on unraveling the mystery of the protagonist’s imprisonment with a greater emphasis on the original source material’s themes of identity and memory.

However, the project fell apart due to a dispute over the rights. When DreamWorks failed to secure permission from the original manga’s publishers, the rights were ultimately ed to Mandate Pictures, who opted for a straight remake of the Korean film instead. This shift instantly turned it from a fresh adaptation into yet another Hollywood attempt to turn a foreign classic into a cash cow. With Spike Lee taking over as director and Josh Brolin in the lead role, the film was doomed to suffer in comparison to its predecessor, no matter the result.

Spike Lee’s Oldboy Honors None of Its Source Material

Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery that Mediocrity Can Pay to Greatness

One of the biggest mistakes Lee’s Oldboy made was its insistence on simply an unforgettable twist. His film borrowed elements from the manga but ultimately told its own distinct story, and in doing so, created something new with its own distinct artistic value.

Oldboy's 2013 remake has just 39% on Rotten Tomatoes compared to the original movie's 82%.

Spike Lee’s film, on the other hand, fails to carve out its own identity. Instead of using the manga’s premise as a springboard for an original take, as Chan-wook did, it awkwardly attempts to replicate the 2003 film’s success while stripping away everything that made it work. The resulting film feels redundant at best and soulless at worst. Lee’s Oldboy lacks the gripping detective story of the manga, and confuses the compelling message behind Chan-wook’s blood-soaked revenge thriller. Gone are the dark humor, tight pacing, and underdog protagonist, replaced with filler, over-choreographed fight scenes, and a Terminator-like Josh Brolin.

The Old Boy Manga Deserves Better

Neither Big-screen Adaptation Fully Captures the Lonely Hero’s Journey

The Old Boy manga is quite different from both film adaptations. While it maintains the central mystery of an unjustly imprisoned man seeking answers, it forgoes the extreme violence and operatic tragedy of the Korean film in favor of a more psychological, noir-inspired story. It delves into themes of memory, identity, and the consequences of revenge in ways that neither film fully explores. The manga spans eight volumes and contains characters and plot points absent from Chan-wook’s adaptation, which Lee should have mined for his own thematic direction rather than skimming the surface.

The biggest departure from Old Boy in both adaptations lies in the characterization of its main character. In the manga, the protagonist is isolated from society and can’t think of anyone who would want to imprison and torture him; Chan-wook flips this and makes his main character an unlikable jerk and negligent father who struggles to think of who wouldn’t. Lee’s hero combines the worst qualities of both, amps up his imprisonment to 20 years, and acts like he’s entitled to vengeance rather than owed it. But how could a proven auteur like Lee fumble this remake so badly?

Post-production Meddling Strikes Again

Even Well-made Films Can Be Derailed at the Last Minute by Gunshy Producers

Hollywood has made plenty of bad manga adaptations, but what makes Oldboy (2013) uniquely frustrating is how close it came to doing something original. It wasn’t doomed from the start like Dragonball Evolution, nor was it a misguided attempt to "Westernize" a Japanese classic like Ghost in the Shell. It had the right ingredients—a strong director, an excellent cast, and a story that had already succeeded twice in two different mediums. And yet, in the final moments of post-production, poor test screenings panicked producers into re-cutting Lee’s film into a pandering mess of fan service.

Imagine a version of Oldboy that took inspiration from the manga’s more introspective and morally complex narrative. It would be a film that leaned into its psychological tension rather than trying (and failing) to mimic the visceral intensity of Chan-wook’s adaptation. Lee’s film deserved more than to be cut up by faithless studio executives more worried about losing money than making art. That film could have justified its existence, but what was released is neither satisfying as an adaptation, nor an original vision. There are certainly worse manga adaptations out there, but Oldboy (2013) isn’t just bad—it’s a wasted opportunity.