A remake of John Carpenter's cult classic Escape from New York has been high on Hollywood's hit list for a long time, with various studios giving it a shot. 20th Century Fox won the rights back in 2015 and they finally seem ready to get moving on it, with Sin City and Machete's Robert Rodriguez in talks to direct.
Fox and Rodriguez have history, as he's currently developing their Alita: Battle Angel movie. He and Carpenter also have a strong working relationship from their collaborations on Rodriguez's El Rey Network. Carpenter will exec-produce the remake and have a hand in developing its tone, possibly even working with writer Neil Cross. Rodriguez seems like a good choice. Looking at the action and grindhouse movies he's so frequently gravitated to one could surmise he's been training for this movie his whole career.
The hope, naturally, is to turn the adventures of anti-hero Snake Plissken into a franchise, and “follow the same formula employed by its Planet of the Apes franchise to great success." What does that mean? Prequels, maybe? A couple of years ago producer Joel Silver wanted Charlie Hunnam as the eyepatched protagonist for a trilogy of movies. I'm curious to see who they'll get to fill Kurt Russell's shoes now. Perhaps his son, Wyatt? [TheTrackingBoard]
