An Escape from New York remake will happen. It’s just a matter of when. And now, we have a very intriguing director circling the project.
Kurt Russell in the original Escape from NY. Image: AVCO
Robert Rodriguez is the likely choice to helm the remake of the 1981 John Carpenter film, according to The Tracking Board. 20th Century Fox has been trying to get the remake off the ground for several years but it seems like in Rodriguez they found a filmmaker willing to take on the intimidating challenge.
The current script is by Neil Cross (Luther) and Fox wants to “follow the same formula employed by its Planet of the Apes franchise to great success”, whatever that means. (Prequels? God, we hope not.) The one issue is that Rodriguez is currently making Alita: Battle Angel which won’t be in theatres until July 2018. That means Escape from New York probably wouldn’t get started until at least then, assuming Alita takes up all that time.
Obviously, you never want to see your favourite movies remade for no reason, and a cult classic like Escape from New York surely has a ton of fans. You just have to hope and pray that whoever makes the movie, they bring something to it that gives it a distinct reason to exist.