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Released
2013 · FILM

Oldboy

A recently released prisoner has just three‑and‑a‑half days and scant clues to track down the mastermind behind his twenty‑year captivity before his mysterious captors can silence him forever.

“Ask not why you were imprisoned. Ask why you were set free.”

Directed by
Spike Lee, Sherman Shelton Jr
Written by
Mark Protosevich
Rated
MPA · R
Runtime
104 min
ActionDramaMystery

Synopsis

A man has only three and a half days and limited resources to uncover why he was imprisoned in a nondescript room for 20 years without any explanation.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Production Designer
Director of Photography
Writers
Directors

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

A crew of 312+ credited

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Barry Alexander BrownShot by Sean BobbittScored by Roque BanosDesigned by Sharon SeymourSound by Michael BairdCostumes by Ruth E CarterVFX by Dottie Starling

Box Office

2013 · Box office

📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.2× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$5.2M

Budget$30.0M
Worldwide gross$5.2M
break-even (2.5×)

Opening week (7-day): $397K

Peak 583 theaters

Versions & cuts

  • original· 140 min

Also known as

  • Oldboyde
  • Old Boyen
  • (English)Oldboy
  • (Bulgarian)Старо момче
Release dates around the world4 countries · show
  • United StatesNov 11, 2013
  • CanadaNov 27, 2013
  • NetherlandsNov 28, 2013
  • SingaporeNov 28, 2013

Companies

ProductionFilmDistrict, Good Universe, Vertigo Entertainment, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks
DistributionFilmDistrict, Entertainment One, Paradiso Entertainment, Universal Pictures Germany, 9ers Entertainment
Special effectsWildfire Visual Effects, Tinsley Studio
Other companiesGood Universe, Mandate International, 9ers Entertainment, Actual Pain, Agent Provocateur, American Humane Association, American Playback Images (I)

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