Joel Silver Reboots John Carpenter’s ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK

Escape From New York remake was killed off by New Line Cinema a year ago with producer Neal Moritz (Total Recall 2012) and Breck Eisner (The Crazies) attached to direct. Looks like John Carpenter’s movie is going back into development with a new producer at a new studio. French powerhouse Studio Canal are financing development for the new series and have given control to producer Joel Silver and he is reportedly planning ‘an entirely new take on the material.’

The goal is to turn it into a trilogy, starting with an origin story in a fashion similar to the way Rise of the Planet of the Apes restarted that franchise.

Search is already underway for a writer. Presumably, the first sequel will echo the 1980 cult classic, but any threequel would steer pretty clear of a sequel of sorts, 1996 Escape From LA, again starring Kurt Russell as the eye-patch-wearing anti-hero Snake Plisskin. When the project was set up at New Line, Gerard Butler, Jeremy Renner, and Tom Hardy were all up for the role of Snake, but as I mentioned above it all fell apart. Here’s hoping it will happen sooner than we think. In the meantime, enjoy this awesomeness. Here’s the synopsis for the original:

In a world ravaged by crime, the entire island of Manhattan has been converted to a walled prison where brutal prisoners roam. But when the U.S. President crash-lands inside, only one man can bring him back: notorious outlaw and former Special Forces war hero Snake Plissken. But time is short: in 24 hours, an explosive device implanted in his neck will end Snake’s mission and his life unless he succeeds!