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Chan-wook Park Develops English Live-Action Series of Korean Oldboy Film

Director Chan-wook Park is developing a live-action English series based on his acclaimed film adaptation of Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi's Oldboy manga, in collaboration with Lionsgate Television. Park would produce this project with his partner Syd Lim.

Dark Horse publishes the manga in English and describes the story:

Ten years ago, they took him. He doesn't know who. For ten years he has been confined in a private prison. He doesn't know why. For ten years his only contact with the outside world has been a television set and the voices of his jailers. In time, he lost himself. He changed . . . transformed himself into something else . . . something hard . . . something lethal. Suddenly one day, his incarceration ends, again without explanation. He is sedated, stuffed inside a trunk, and dumped in a park. When he awakes, he is free to reclaim what's left of his life . . . and what's left is revenge.

Caribu Marley published the manga under the pen name Garon Tsuchiya with artist Nobuaki Minegishi. The manga ran in Futabasha's Manga Action magazine from 1996 to 1998.

Park was the director of the original film adaptation and co-wrote the script. The manga and the Korean film also inspired Spike Lee's 2013 Hollywood remake. The remake opened at #18 on Box Office Mojo's chart for the five-day Thanksgiving weekend in 2013, earning a total of US$1,282,665 in 583 theaters. The film earned US$885,382 from November 29-December 1, 2013. The Korean film returned to theaters in 2023 in celebration of the 20th anniversary and earned US$878,212 in its first five days in the United States.

Source: Deadline (Rosy Cordero)