Stepping off the space opera Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver and anticipating the drama The Last Photograph, director Zack Snyder has reportedly been signed on to lead an updated version of John Carpenter’s Escape from New York, the 1981 sci-fi action flick starring Kurt Russell.
Escape from New York is the horror maestro’s seventh film and focuses on a dystopian, crime-ridden America in which, in 1997, New York City’s Manhattan Island has been transformed into a prison. After Air Force One is hijacked and sent into the walled-off borough, Russell’s Snake Plissken, an ex-special forces operative, is hired to rescue the president in 24 hours.
It also featured Ernest Borgnine, Isaac Hayes, Donald Pleasence, Harry Dean Stanton and Adrienne Barbeau.
The film was a success, grossing $50 million at the box office from a budget of $6 million and earned four Saturn Award nominations. It is also hailed as a cult classic and a huge influence on the cyberpunk sub-genre.
A sequel, Escape from LA, followed in 1996, seeing Russell reprise his role. Now Snyder is set to update the material, with Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman set to produce, alongside Snyder, Deborah Snyder and Wesley Coller.
This follows an originally attempted remake first announced in 2007, with New Line Cinema securing the rights in a bidding war and Gerald Butler being eyed to take on the leading role and Ken Nolan penning the screenplay. Underworld director Len Wiseman was initially signed on to direct, yet was soon replaced by Rush Hour’s Brett Ratner, who soon stepped down from the position. Other names attached to the project include Breck Eisner, Robert Rodriguez, David Kajganich, Allan Loeb, and Leigh Whannell. 2015 saw 20th Century Fox purchase the rights, with New Line Cinema abandoning the project in 2011.
Russell’s son, Wyatt Russell, was offered the role of Snake in one of the planned remakes, yet turned it down, hailing it as “career suicide.”
Snyder is no stranger to remakes and reimaginings, with his 2004 debut, Dawn of the Dead, being an updated version of horror master George A. Romero’s 1978 classic of the same title. The film is loved by horror fans and sometimes hailed as equal to the original, as well as the director’s best work. He has also updated DC’s Superman and Batman material for the 2010s and 2020s.
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