Leigh Whannell has become the latest to take a stab at the upcoming Escape From New York reboot, as the Saw co-creator has signed on to write a script and may even direct for the film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, this is Whannell’s second big studio deal this week, as he recently closed a deal to write and direct The Invisible Man remake for Universal. Escape From New York will be rebooted through Fox, with John Carpenter, who created the original film, on board to produce along with Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman.
In the original 1981 sci-fi classic, New York City is turned into a high-tech prison facility for the United States’s criminals. Yep, the whole city. When the President’s plane crashes in the middle of it, the government sends anti-hero Snake Plissken, played by Kurt Russell, to undertake a mission to rescue him from the city’s crime infested streets.
If the plot sounds somewhat familiar, it’s worth noting that the film has been quite influential for modern popular culture. The Metal Gear game series takes many ques from the film, the name of the series’ protagonist just one of them. Many other modern sci-fi and dystopian films and games have been influenced by the movie, which also spawned the sequel Escape From LA.
It’s worth mentioning that the idea of an Escape From New York remake or reboot has been floated around for a while. In 2013, Silver Pictures announced plans for a reboot trilogy, which eventually fell through. Over the years, numerous directors and actors have had ties to a reboot of some sorts. The latest plan involved a reboot of the first film directed by Robert Rodriguez and with a script by Neil Cross, but that also fell through.
Now, Leigh Whannell has taken up the torch, with the goals of treating the material carefully and avoiding the problems that have plagued other reboots of 1980s films. Along with James Wan, Whanell co-created the Saw franchise as well as the Insidious series of films. While primarily a horror writer and director, Whanell cut his teeth on the sci-fi genre with last year’s Upgrade. Hopefully Whannell see Escape From New York to fruition and ensure the latest reboot is able to escape from its own developmental prison.
