The Escape From New York Remake Just Got The Perfect Director
Release the Snyder Escape!
In recent years, the 1980s has been the go-to decade to look for intellectual property to revive. Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, Tron, and Rocky have all gotten the “legacyquel” treatment, while other property like Super Mario Bros. and even He-Man are now the subject of blockbuster films.
One of the most recent 1980s masterpieces to get this treatment is Escape From New York, a dystopian action thriller following criminal Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) as he tries to get the President out of Manhattan, which is now a gigantic maximum-security prison. Now, the project has found the perfect director: a filmmaker with just as strong of a following as John Carpenter, even if he is a little polarizing.
Zack Snyder will direct StudioCanal’s upcoming remake of the 1981 movie Escape from New York.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, 300 and Watchmen director Zack Snyder will helm the Escape from New York remake, and according to the report, the movie will get a theatrical release. There’s not much that can be gleaned from this choice and casting hasn’t been announced yet, but Zack Snyder has a distinctive style that this film will probably follow: over-the-top, epic, and gritty.
Snyder is perhaps best known for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the much-demanded “Snyder Cut” that was released in four parts on HBO Max. Since then, he’s made a couple zombie heist movies for Netflix and even tried (with questionable success) to make his own Star Wars with Rebel Moon.
Snyder is no stranger to remakes, as his feature directorial debut was the 2004 remake of the 1978 zombie movie Dawn of the Dead. Like that film, it’s likely his take on Escape from New York will be updated. The story is set in a dystopian future, but the vision of the future in the ‘80s is much different than it is today.
The rip-roaring action of Escape From New York is perfectly suited to Zack Snyder’s skillset.
With a director on board, this project is taking another big step toward actually happening. Remakes for Escape from New York have been announced before, and directors have even signed on, but nothing ever materialized. But Zack Snyder isn’t just your average movie director. Thanks to his work with the DC Universe, he’s amassed a cult following, and such a beloved story like this is sure to draw audiences.
Things are still early, but hopefully we’ll start to see casting announcements soon. Anyone’s on the table to play Snake Plissken — at least, almost everyone. Kurt Russell’s son, Wayne Russell, may be used to playing the same character as his dad on Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, but he’s made it very clear he has no desire to take on that role. In a 2021 interview with Esquire, he specifically said playing Snake in a reboot would be “career suicide 101,” apparently. “That's like what not to do,” he said.
But regardless of who is the face in front of the camera, Zack Snyder being behind it is exciting enough.
