‘Escape From New York’ Reboot Announced—Again—After Years of Failed Attempts

Oh, for heaven’s sake. Studiocanal has just announced at CinemaCon plans to reboot John Carpenter’s Escape from New York—a film that felt very much of its time and did a hell of a job building atmosphere, while also introducing us to Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken.

This was always a bad idea because the original is so tightly tied to its 1980s dystopian aesthetic, minimalist storytelling, and Russell’s iconic performance that it risks losing its identity if modernized. A large part of its appeal came from its gritty, low-budget, analog-world atmosphere and deliberately unhurried pacing, qualities that would be difficult to preserve in a modern reboot and likely to be replaced by more polished, CGI-heavy spectacle.

The good news is that there have been several attempts over the years to reboot “Escape From New York,” with multiple scripts written, all of which failed to crack the story and never made it into production. That track record suggests how difficult it is to capture what made the original work, and maybe that will be the case again here.

The most serious effort began in the early 2010s at New Line Cinema, with a remake in development that at one point had actors like Gerard Butler attached to play Snake Plissken. The project went through an innumerable number of writers and script revisions, and there were even ideas to expand it into a larger franchise, but it kept stalling due to the usual “creative differences.”

Over time, several directors were attached at different stages, including Len Wiseman, Brett Ratner, Robert Rodriguez, Leigh Whannell, and later the filmmaking duo Radio Silence, but each version eventually fell apart or was abandoned before filming began.

As for Carpenter, he has remained largely uninvolved and has expressed skepticism about remakes in general—wise fella. As of now, no director is attached to Studiocanal’s latest attempt at a reboot, which is currently in development.

The original remains one of the great high-concept sci-fi action movies of the ’80s, with Manhattan transformed into a maximum-security prison and Russell’s Plissken sent in to rescue the President after Air Force One crashes. It’s gritty, inventive, and unapologetically pulpy.

NOTE: During its presentation, Studiocanal also announced a remake of “The Howling” (1981), ‘Paddington 4,’ a Pippi Longstocking movie, and a theatrical re-release of “T2: Judgment” Day in 2027 to celebrate its 35th anniversary.