A Remake Of Escape From New York Is In Development. Again.

This isn’t the first time they’ve tried to resurrect John Carpenter’s sci-fi classic.

I’m not necessarily against a remake of Escape From New York. Don’t get me wrong, John Carpenter‘s dystopian 1981 sci-fi thriller is an all-timer, one of the most effortlessly cool movies ever made. It sits very high in my personal pantheon. Hell, I just guested on a podcast about the damn thing – and also The Thing.

But you can see the appeal of a remake – the concept is unbeatable, with one-eyed tough guy Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) given 24 hours to rescue the President from a New York City that’s become one giant, open air prison ruled by marauding gangs. You can do a lot with that. One thing they will do, if an when they ever get around to it, is up the action content – for all that it rules, Escape From New York is light on violence from a modern perspective.

And it looks like someone is going to be giving it a crack, with The Wrap reporting that rights holders StudioCanal announced at the CinemaCon trade convention that a remake was in active development. They also announced a remake of Joe Dante’s 1981 werewolf masterpiece, The Howling. Given the state of that franchise, a remake is all you can hope for at this stage of the game.

There’s no word yet as to who might be working on the mooted Escape From New York redux, although many have tiled at that particular windmill before. Len Wiseman (Underworld) and later Brett Ratner (numerous sexual assault allegations) were attached circa 2007-2008, and then Breck Eisner was announced in 2010. In 2917 Sin City and Desperado director Robert Rodriguez was attached, and I think we missed something pretty cool there. Then in 2022 Scream and Ready Or Not directors Radio Silence were named as directors, with John Carpenter on board as executive producer.

And now we have this latest announcement.

Look, I’m just saying I wouldn’t hold my breath.