We were reporting back in June that the planned Oldboy remake, starring Will Smith and directed by Steven Spielberg, was hitting some snags on its way to becoming a horrible reality. Now, according to Latino Review, the final blow has been struck. DreamWorks and Mandate Films couldn't reach an agreement as they worked on getting the rights to the original manga, and the project died as a result.

Fans of the original Park Chan-wook film are probably dancing in the streets with joy right now, and who can blame them? A seminal, violent, envelope-pushing film was going to be remade as some kind of Hollywood blockbuster, starring Will Smith, a guy who doesn't know how to be mean on camera. Yes, it was going to be based on the original manga, and not a remake of the film, but that's like making a movie based on the short stories of Ryunosuke Akutagawa and claiming it has nothing to do with Rashomon.

It's still possible, of course, that like anything, this Oldboy will rise again from the grave. But for now, ding dong, the horrible movie idea is dead.