Josh Brolin stars in the new poster for Spike Lees Oldboy

Spike Lee’s Oldboy remake has revealed an intriguing first poster online, with Josh Brolin emerging from a (possibly symbolic) casket.

The one-sheet comes ahead of the first red-band trailer, which is set to be revealed on Wednesday 10 July 2013.

Tonally, the poster’s not what we were expecting, the bright colours and stylish aesthetic belie the story’s dark twists and turns. Those gathering clouds sure look threatening though…

And that cool, scrawled title font? It comes from Brolin’s own hand, apparently. And are we to presume that that’s co-star Elizabeth Olsen loitering in the background under a neon umbrella?

The tagline offers a brief plot hint for anyone unfamiliar with Park Chan-wook’s 2003 original: ‘Ask not why you were imprisoned. Ask why you were set free.’ Brolin’s Joe is held hostage in a room for 20 years, and he doesn’t have a chance to find out why, until he’s mysteriously released.

Check out the poster in full below:

[ Click on the poster to see it in hi-res ]

Oldboy co-stars Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley and Samuel L. Jackson, and will open in the US on 25 October 2013 (UK audiences will have to wait until 6 December 2013).

Matt Maytum
Editor, Total Film

I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.