StudioCanal is working on a reboot of John Carpenter’s 1981 cult classic, Escape From New York.
The production company made the announcement at CinemaCon, the annual trade show for the exhibition business, which began on Monday in Las Vegas. No additional information regarding the reimagining of the film was confirmed.
Directed by John Carpenter, Escape from New York imagines a near-future Manhattan transformed into a maximum-security prison. Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is a one-eyed outlaw coerced into a high-stakes rescue mission, navigating a city overrun by chaos, gangs, and decay. The film’s stripped-down storytelling, pulsing synth score, and grimy production design helped cement its cult status and influence generations of action and sci-fi filmmakers.
More than a decade later, Carpenter and Russell reunited for Escape from L.A., a sequel that traded the original’s bleak minimalism for a more satirical, over-the-top tone. This time, Snake is sent into a similarly quarantined Los Angeles, offering a heightened, almost comic-book take on the same dystopian premise. The film is peppered with cinematic icons such as Peter Fonda, Bruce Campbell, Pam Grier and Steve Buscemi.