Zack Snyder’s ‘Escape From New York’ Lands at Warner Bros?

Hey, look who came back to his former home. Zack Snyder made a surprise return to the Warner Bros. lot Monday night, receiving what Page Six Hollywood described as a “hero’s welcome” while hosting a screening of John Boorman’s 1981 classic “Excalibur” for employees.

Snyder’s appearance is… notable given his messy 2021 split from the studio and the battles surrounding “Justice League,” but the event was also part of Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy’s effort to bring him back into the family.

Snyder, who famously clashed with Warners over “Justice League,” must have felt comfortable—nine of the executives and creatives involved in that period are still at the studio. With De Luca and Abdy now running the show, Snyder’s appearance signals that Warner Bros. is interested in working with him again.

According to Page Six, the biggest clue may be Snyder’s upcoming remake of the 1981 cult classic “Escape From New York,” which he is writing and directing for StudioCanal. Given the new multi-year, multi-territory agreement between StudioCanal’s parent company CANAL+ and Warner Bros., speculation is mounting that “Escape From New York” will land at Warner Bros. In other words, Snyder wasn’t just at the lot for pleasure—business might have been at the table, and he could be on the verge of bringing his next major film to Warner Bros.

Snyder is set to write and direct this new reimagining of “Escape From New York.” The project was being assembled for studios and financiers and was expected to be shopped in June.

Details about Snyder’s version remain secret, but sources have indicated that he intends to create a “down and dirty” take, emphasizing practical effects and real-world locations. The goal appears to be a rougher, more realistic approach to the material. If Snyder can do here what he did with “Dawn of the Dead,” then this could make for a potentially decent match.

John Carpenter’s “Escape From New York” was 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. The original is so tightly tied to its 1980s dystopian aesthetic, minimalist storytelling, and Russell’s iconic performance that Snyder has no choice but to do a complete 180 and give us a fundamentally different version.

Snyder, coming off the sprawling scale of his two failed “Rebel Moon” movies, has “The Last Photograph,” an indie drama, already shot and still looking for distribution. He’s also been quietly developing a UFC-set project backed by Saudi money.