Back in 2013 we eventually caught wind from the trades of the efforts underway at 20th Century Fox to reboot John Carpenter’s cult classic, Escape From New York. There is a lot that has stirred in terms of casting options but the word now is that Robert Rodriguez is poised as the frontrunner to helm the picture.
As The Tracking Board notes, Neil Cross is providing a script that that follows dystopian outlaw Colonel Robert “The Snake” Plissken on an 11-hour mission to find the villainous heir to an agrochemical and biotech corporation as a major hurricane approaches. Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman are still on board to produce under their Picture Company banner with Carpenter executive producing.
Starring Kurt Russell, the original 1981 saw our protagonist on a mission to rescue the President whose chopper crashes in the New York City borough Manhattan, out-fitted as its own maximum security prison. The film went on to gross more than $25 million dollars after its theatrical release prior to Russell later reprising his role in the sequel, Escape From L.A. in 1996, which flopped at the box office. Both films were directed by Carpenter.
Rodriguez, noted for titles such as The ‘Mariachi’ Trilogy, Sin City and the Grindhouse Machete movies is currently on deck with Alita: Battle Angel at Fox.