Hollywood is taking yet another stab at remaking Escape From New York, this time with some of the best horror directors of the modern era guiding the ship. According to Deadline, 20th Century Studios has recruited the team of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, and Chad Villella (often credited together as Radio Silence) to helm a reboot of John Carpenter’s 1981 sci-fi classic.
Carpenter’s movie imagined a dystopian version of the late ‘90s, where the United States is at war with the combined forces of China and the Soviet Union. In response to its own skyrocketing crime rate, the country has also converted the entire island of Manhattan into a maximum-security prison. Kurt Russell headlined the film as Snake Plissken, an ex-soldier facing a life sentence for robbing the Federal Reserve. But when the U.S. president ends up stranded inside Manhattan’s walls, the government offers Snake a bargain. If he can rescue the president before a crucial peace summit, he will receive a full pardon for his crimes. Russell later reprised his role in a sequel, Escape From L.A., which bowed in 1996.
Radio Silence burst onto the horror scene in 2011, when they directed a segment of the original V/H/S. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett later co-directed the group’s first proper feature, Devil’s Due, in 2014. But the success of their second film, 2019’s Ready or Not, prompted much bigger opportunities to come their way. Earlier this year, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett directed the latest installment of the Scream franchise. They also recently finished production on Scream 6, which hits theaters next March.
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Various studios have tried getting an Escape From New York remake off the ground over the last 15 years. Gerard Butler circled the role of Snake in 2007 when New Line still had the rights. The studio also met with several directors, including Len Wiseman and Breck Eisner, before scrapping the project in 2011. 20th Century ultimately secured the rights in 2015, and two years later, Robert Rodriguez signed on to direct, with Leigh Whannell eventually coming aboard to write the script. However, this version of the film never came to pass.
Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman are producing the latest iteration of the remake via The Picture Company. Radio Silence will produce as well alongside Carpenter, who remains attached as an executive producer. Apparently, the filmmakers are on the lookout for a new writer to tackle the property.
Do you think Radio Silence is a good fit for an Escape From New York reboot? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: Escape From New York: The Official Story of the Film
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