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Gong Yoo starrer Train to Busan's English remake idea slammed as 'pointless'

‘Last Train to New York’: Fans of the South Korean post-apocalyptic Zombie thriller are wondering why America just can't read subtitles?

After multiple reports announcing that the much-loved South Korean Zombie thriller ‘Train to Busan’ was going to be reimagined by Hollywood fans of the original Gong Yoo starrer movie expressed their displeasure with the need for America trying to remaster legendary works only to turn them into failures. While they discussed the pros and cons of this work that had then not been confirmed, fans drew analogies to the 2003 classic ‘Old Boy’ and its 2013 English remake starring Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen movie of the same name.

Comparing the success of the Korean take with the failure of the English version, fans think it is actually wise to let the original stories stay as they are, in whatever language they are made so that the sanctity of the project remains. The makers of the remake of ‘Train to Busan’ however, do not agree with fans on this. On November 18, New Line Cinema posted an official update stating that the Hollywood version of the 2016 film, ‘Train to Busan’ now has a title.

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The remake gets a title

The remake of ‘Train to Busan’ will be called ‘Last Train to New York’ and will be directed by Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto best known for his works on the horror and action genres while a few of his most notable works are the 2016 film, ‘Headshot’, the 2019 thriller ‘The Night Comes for Us’, as well as the 2019 horror, ‘May the Devil Take You.’ With the state of New York in its focus, the American version of the movie has more in common with the Korean version. The city of Busan was once the temporary capital of South Korea. Similarly, New York also served as a temporary capital for the USA from 1785-1790.

While there is no news about the actors that have been approached for this project, it is reported that Gary Dauberman and James Wan will be involved in production assistance and screenplay writing after their notable contribution on New Line’s horror series like 'Annabelle', 'The Nun' as well as 'The Conjuring' series.

The plot of ‘Train to Busan’

The story of ‘Train to Busan’ follows the journey of Seok-woo (played by actor Gong Yoo) who is a fund manager in Seoul. He is separated from his wife and lives with his daughter Soo-an (played by Kim Soo-ahn). Seok-woo is a distant father who on the night before his daughter Soo-an’s birthday gets coaxed by her into seeing her mother. Seok-woo has no other choice, but to take her to Busan.

Early the next morning, they board the KTX train for Busan at Seoul Station. Before the KTX train leaves Seoul Station, a zombie-like girl jumps into the train who is infected with a horrific virus that is spreading in post-apocalyptic Korea like wildfire. Seok-woo, Soo-an as well as the other passengers on the train must now fight for their lives.

'Just read the subtitles'

Fans are displeased with the idea of Hollywood trying to ruin a perfectly good movie while reading subtitles is not that hard. One fan noted, "Train to Busan is a story about Korea’s class structure. You cant just take a story like that and remake it for another country without losing that cultural nuance. Itll either be frame for frame and be pointless or be made for an American audience…" One more fan said, "We don’t want it." Another asked, "Americans can't read subtitles huh?" Another fan pointed, "Kinda sucks on how train to busan is kinda related to korea history and here comes the colonisers."

One fan stated, "Imagine even trying to remake train to busan without him (Gong Yoo) in it so embarrassing," while one more said, "Why would i watch a version of train to busan without gong yoo?" While mentioning how this is not a good idea, author Dianna E. Anderson said, "THAT IDEA DOESN’T EVEN MAKE SENSE BECAUSE THE IDEA OF TRAIN TO BUSAN IS THAT HE’S LEAVING THE HIGH STRESS CAPITOL AND GOING TO THE SEASIDE. There’s a lot of uniquely Korean stuff that will not map onto an American remake and FFS JUST WATCH THE ORIGINAL."

One fan said, "The old boy remake sucked ass, maybe train to busan remake will suck ass too, but the issue is not that they're unremakable, it's that korea has had a very strong culture of movies & filmmakers that pushed the boundaries of cinema, and Spike Lee just didn't fucking get it." Another fan said, "They completely f*cked up Oldboy and now they're going after Train to Busan. To think that we used to make fun of Bollywood for copying Hollywood movies. Now it's Hollywood straight up ripping off Korean films."