It’s safe to say that reboots have become the norm in Hollywood, with most franchises forever searching for new ways to revitalize their most beloved IPs. Whether looking at the rebooted DCU or Peacock’s upcoming Friday the 13th prequel series Crystal Lake, remakes are a cornerstone of the modern entertainment industry, as countless series search for new fans.
In this sense, legendary cult filmmaker John Carpenter remains something of a trailblazer, having cleared a path for every contemporary remake and reboot audiences have seen over the last three decades. With his 1996 sci-fi action film Escape from L.A., the Big Trouble in Little China director helped prove there was a viable market for remakes, and established their potential appeal to the ordinary theatergoer. More importantly, he also illustrated the idea that a remake might actually improve upon its source material — something that Carpenter painstakingly tried to accomplish with his polarizing dystopian epic.
