Following its announcement at Cinemacon earlier this year, the remake of John Carpenter's Escape from New York has found its director, with The Hollywood Reporter today revealing that Man of Steel and Justice League director Zack Snyder will be taking the reigns on the dystopian action classic.
Per THR, Carpenter will serve as executive producer, with Snyder producing alongside his Stone Quarry production company partners Deborah Snyder and Wesley Coller, and The Picture Company partners Andrew Rona and Alex Heinemanwill producing through their overall deal with StudioCanal.
Starring an eyepatch-wearing Kurt Russell, the 1981 Escape from New York is set in a future (1997, if you want to feel ancient) crime-ridden dystopian United States, which has converted New York City's Manhattan Island into the country's sole maximum security prison. Snake Plissken (Russell), a Special Forces operative turned federal prisoner, is given 24 hours to rescue the President of the United States after Air Force One is hijacked by anti-government insurgents. Ernest Borgnine, Isaac Hayes, Donald Pleasance, Harry Dean Stanton and Adrienne Barbeau also starred.
THR report that Snyder’s take on the material is being kept under wraps, but that he “aims to make a more down and dirty movie, using plenty of practical effects or locations”, akin to his Dawn of the Dead remake from 2004. No news yet on cast, but we could easily see Russell's IRL son, Wyatt Russell donning the patch.
An Escape from New York remake has been in talks for years now, with Leigh Whannell, Robert Rodriguez and Radio Silence all attached at different points. Stay tuned for updates on Snyder's reimagining.
