The rumored Oldboy project won’t be the first (or last) time that a Korean flick has gotten the ol’ Hollywood whitewash. Luckily for you, we at Complex are certified Korean cinema experts. Here’s a look at American remakes of Korean movies from the past, present and future.


Korean Movie: Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo (2001) (a.k.a. “My Sassy Girl”),
dir. Kwak Jae-young
Plot: A hapless college student falls in love with a pretty psycho-bitch with a traumatic past.
Remake: My Sassy Girl (2008), dir. Yann Samuell
Starring: Jesse Bradford and Elisha Cuthbert
Verdict: The O.G. broke South Korean box office records; the American adaptation was a straight-to-DVD brick, apparently because U.S. audiences couldn’t buy the concept of a loser emasculating himself to win a girl’s heart. Maybe they should’ve kept the female lead as Korean?

Korean Movie: Siworae (2000) (a.k.a. “Il Mare”), dir. Lee Hyun-seung
Plot: Two would-be lovers communicate through a magical mailbox.
Remake: The Lake House (2006), dir. Alejandro Agresti
Starring: Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock
Verdict: Koreans are experts at melodrama and the carbon-copy U.S. remake is no more cheesy or manipulative than the O.G. Still, replacing sexy “Sassy Girl” starlet Jeon Ji-hyun with Sandra Bullock definitely kills the mood.

Korean Movie: Janghwa, Hongryeon (2003) (a.k.a. “A Tale of Two Sisters”),
dir. Kim Ji-woon
Plot: Two sisters rebel against their wicked stepmother in this ghost story.
Remake: The Uninvited (out 1/30/2009), dir. Charles and Thomas Guard
Starring: Emily Browning, Arielle Kebbel and Elizabeth Banks
Verdict: The trailer for the remake features none of the O.G.’s atmospheric horror and creepiness, instead looking like a straightforward scarefest. Boo.

Korean Movie: J.S.A: Joint Security Area (2000), dir. Park Chan-wook
Plot: When a South Korean patrol guard kills two North Korean soldiers in the DMZ, an international official is sent in to investigate.
Remake: Joint Security America (no release date), dir. David Franzoni
Starring: May we suggest: Gael Garcia Bernal, Tom Hanks and Natalie Portman
Verdict: The remake, which plans to substitute the U.S.-Mexico border for the DMZ zone, actually sounds like a pretty cool idea. But the fact that the script has been on ice for so long is not a good sign. The O.G., which is Oldboy director Park’s first major film, is definitely worth Netflixing.