Hooray! New Line & Warner Bros. dump Escape From New York remake

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Wow, imagine that…we actually have good news pertaining to a remake!

After holding on for dear and newfound life at New Line, the studio has made a joint decision with Warner Bros. to cancel their plans of remaking John Carpenter’s ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. Altogether now…HALLE-FU*CKING-LUJAH!!!

Deadline reports the studios let the rights to the 1981 action classic lapse, and now the property is up for grabs around Hollywood. You know what that means…just because New Line and Warner passed, doesn’t mean another studio won’t want to try and retool the project. Remember, Beck Eisner (THE CRAZIES) has long been attached to direct the film…with Timothy Olyphant, Gerard Butler and Jeremy Renner rumored and ultimately debunked to star as the new Snake Plissken. Tom Hardy was apparently the last actor the studio courted for the part.

Here’s the synopsis for the 1981 film:

In 1988, the U.S. turned Manhattan, New York into a maximum security prison where the most brutal criminals are residing for life, due to the 400% rise in crime rates. There’s no way for them to escape, as the bridges are filled with mines, a large wall is built around the shoreline, and a police force army is based there to take out any attempted escapees. In 1997, Air Force One is hijacked, so the president escapes in a pod, landing in Manhattan. Ex-special forces war hero/bank robber Snake Plissken is offered his freedom if he can rescue the president, who was on his way to a Hartford Summit meeting as well as a cassette tape (CDs weren’t around in 1981) that contains important information regarding Nuclear Fission within 24 hours. Just to make sure he goes through the mission, Snake has been implanted with two microscopic capsules that will explode within 24 hours, meaning that he’ll be dead if he’s a little late.

Damn, peep the stems on our girl, THE CRAZIES star Danielle Panabaker