EXCLUSIVE: Snake Plissken is back! Fox has emerged from competitive bidding and closed a deal to remake the 1981 John Carpenter-directed cult classic Escape From New York. Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman’s The Picture Company will produce.
The original was released by Avco Embassy, and the rights were owned by Studiocanal. Carpenter will be an executive producer and will exert creative influence over the project. Fox’s Mike Ireland brought it in and will steer. The hope is to reinvent the property with an eye toward launching a new franchise.
In the original, Kurt Russell played Plissken, an eyepatch-sporting tough guy who is conscripted to rescue the president of the United States after Air Force One — en route to a summit that could head off WWIII — goes missing after it crashes in New York, which has been relegated to a maximum security prison. Plissken, a former special forces operative convicted of trying to rob the Federal Reserve, is given 22 hours to liberate the president and a tape he carries which holds the key to peace. If he fails, he’s wired to explode.
The cynical original, hatched by Carpenter after the Watergate scandal, was set in a futuristic Gotham circa 1997. There have been remake overtures before, but not with Carpenter involved. New Line tried it with Neal Moritz. It’s the second producing project set up by The Picture Company, after they set Nottingham And Hood at Disney. TPC has a deal with Studiocanal.
While there was a spate of rumors earlier this fall that the film was about to be cast with the likes of Sons Of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam, I’m told those rumors amounted to wishful thinking by fans, because there was no rights deal made until now, and there is no script. They are starting from scratch. That said, the notion of Hunnam playing the Snake, or Chris Hemsworth who was another one rumored, seems like pretty inspired ideas from here. I saw Russell at an AFM buyers event for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, and he certainly looked robust though you can’t do a remake with the original guy.
All of that is fantasy league stuff and the reality comes down the road when they hire a scribe and a filmmaker and the studio gets a script it likes. Who else is worth considering for Plissken?
This should really be remade into an awesome series.
It must
;-)
Wonderful – why do anything new when we can just remake everything. Kudos – can’t wait to see it.
Well if your going to remake it, so glad John Carpenter will be involved. I’ve always thought Josh Holloway would be great for this.
Tom Hardy would be the only interesting choice
He’s already starring in the remake of Mad Max. Why would he star in another dystopian remake?
super dated
Yeah, being rebellious against the government is always so dated and unbelievable.
No
@idriselba would make a great Snake. #justsaying
This would be fantastic news if it actually had real producers behind it. Get ready to be disappointed.
Sorry Mike you’re wrong. I’m still around and good to go. The only movie I will appear in is Escape From Earth and it has to star Kurt Russell as yours truly and be directed by Carpenter. We deserve the chance to complete our planned trilogy. New Line developed several scripts and they wasted a lot of money for nothing. I have one last adventure left in me and I want to get started on it.
Snake Plissken… I thought you were dead.
It’s all in the reflexes
Nice
I’m with Snake.
I thought you’d be taller.
Nice boots, Chief.
Idris Elba
Jim Parsons or Neil Patrick Harris as Sssssssnake Pliksssssen. LOLOLOLOL.
All the other Carpenter remakes have been so awesome.
assault remake is not terrible
halloween bad
fog terrible
the thing was more a reboot sequel/prequel and meh
carpenter was producer on fog remake so his involvement doesn’t mean a lot… however fog was kind of a light movie with great atmosphere… escape has more to it
This is so pathetic …..how could we be remaking ….oh my god…is there no such this as an original film any longer?????
except for slema, unbroken, imitation game, into the woods, inherent vice, wild, big eyes, big hero 6, interstellar, theory of everything, birdman, American sniper, gone girl, top five, the interview, st vincent, nightcrawler, john wick… and that’s just now… lol… you get the point?
Half of the films you named are adaptations.
so? half are… and adaptions aren’t remakes or reboots… amazing no ones wrong on the internet lol
Adaptations are not original films. Are you suggesting a new film shouldn’t come from a novel?
So are half the films ever made. They are still original FILMS.
Kurt Russell
They should cast Kurt as the president.
Josh Brolin for snake.
Way too old. Sorry also not an action star.
Tom Hardy may be a stretch with the epic Mad Max reboot due for a highly anticipated summer release… BUT, even still Mr. Eames/Bane/Rockatansky is IMO the only new age anti-hero that can convincingly channel the charming but deadly scoundrel who was Snake Plissken.
Jason Statham
*I* will play Snake Plissken.
Charlie Hunnam as Snake Plissken? You better give him a tutu.
Why mess with a classic? If you must remake something, why not “Run Away” starring Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons? Now that movie you could do wonders with using updated technology!
Or Logan’s Run.
I would like to see, and disslike at the same time, big trouble in little china remake.
And yet another Carpenter film gets remade, but still no one will actually hire him to make a new, authentic John Carpenter picture. And there in a nutshell is what’s wrong with the movies.
No, Ghosts of Mars is why John Carpenter isn’t making movies. He’s made some of my all time favorites, but I’m having a hard time thinking of a good one in the last 20 years.
FWIW, GHOSTS was barely his film. Sony forced him to take Ice Cube as the star, added crap he didn’t want in, and then sold the movie solely on Cube as though it were SHAFT IN OUTER SPACE. The entire incident so depressed him that it was nearly a decade before he made another feature. What a horrible waste.
Ahh Excuse me Escape from New York should be Played by a American Actor Right ! How about Jeremy Renner, He has the Look Attitude and all all in a The Character has to be a An ANTI HERO Attitude.. Renner Has that American movies are American Anymore.. Like The Last Terminator Main Characters are Brits…
Honestly, what happened to Dave Kagjanich’s script for this? It was scary and weird and full of homages to the original and it was just damn FUN–a total respect job to the original.
Where can I read this?
I agree with the post above, the KaJGanich script was f$&@ing amazing, and exactly the right sort of batshit crazy/scary. So stupid of New Line not to make that script. It could all be over and done with now, with a huge win for them. If anybody read it, I still can’t get the canned tuna scene out of my head.