John Carpenter is a horror legend, but not all of his movies are slashers, be they set on Halloween or in the Arctic. One of his most underrated movies is Escape from New York, the Kurt-Russell-starring dystopian action thriller with a lofty concept: in the near future, the entire island of Manhattan is turned into one gigantic maximum security prison, which works (relatively) great until Air Force One crashes, leaving the President stranded in the indisputedly most dangerous place in the country. Enter Snake (Russell), who is offered a pardon in exchange for getting the President out of New York, an escape effort that ends in political intrigue.
Almost half a century later, this classic story is getting a big update. But can it be updated while still paying homage to the original?
During CinemaCon, StudioCanal announced that a reboot of Escape from New York is in the works, but didn’t announce any future details. It’s not the first time this project has been bandied about, however. Remake rumors for Escape from New York date back all the way to 2007, when New Line Cinema purchased the rights. Over the years, directors Len Wiseman, Brett Ratner, Robert Rodriguez, and directing duo Radio Silence have all been attached to the project.
Gerard Butler was originally in talks to star, but no other iteration has gotten to the casting stage. Just don’t count on Kurt’s son Wyatt Russell to play the next generation of Snake — in a 2021 interview with Esquire, he specifically said playing Snake in a reboot would be “career suicide 101,” he said. That's like what not to do.”
But he’s not just opposed to him taking on his father’s role — he thinks it’s simply irreplicable. “I don't know if anybody else can be Snake Plissken,” he said. “Good luck, go get them. I sincerely wish you the best of luck. I just don't know how it's possible.”
And that’s the ultimate question regarding this new project. Without John Carpenter and Kurt Russell, could a remake even work? What else is left to say? Considering the original film was written after the Watergate scandal, perhaps there’s some political satire that can be refreshed, but Escape from New York is pretty timeless. Maybe a remake would remove the more dated references, like a glider landing on the World Trade Center, but the heart and soul really can’t be improved.
