Variety: Spike Lee's 'Oldboy' Remake a 'Big, Fat Turkey'

Spike Lee isn’t having a Happy Thanksgiving weekend.

The director’s Oldboy, a remake of a South Korean cult classic, bombed at the box office this week, coaxing Variety to dub it a “big, fat turkey.”

Enthusiastic fans of the original had been waiting to see how the auteur would put his stamp on the cult sensation, released in 2003, but it appears Lee’s version is D.O.A. with a five-day weekend projection of $2.5 million.

Reviews have been generally weak, the film’s marketing push appears muted, and even its star is reticent to share his views on the film.

When asked about the film recently in an L.A. Times interview, star Josh Brolin said: “I do have opinions but it’s better I bite my tongue.

Lee’s box office clout, which was never mighty, even during the auteur’s early career, is in serious decline. His cruel retweet of an address he assumed to belong to George Zimmerman, the man who shot and killed Florida teen Trayvon Martin during a fight, caused him endless negative headlines and tarnished the director’s public persona.

Mishandling a film like Oldboy won’t help Lee’s future Hollywood prospects.