As CinemaCon gets underway in Las Vegas, StudioCanal CEO and Canal+ chief content officer Anna Marsh and executive VP of global marketing and distribution Hugh Spearing kicked off the event with some big announcements.
There have been several attempts to get a reboot of Escape From New York off the ground over the past few years, and Spearing revealed that the studio is officially moving ahead with a reimagining of John Carpenter’s 1981 cult classic.
The Invisible Man director Leigh Whannell was believed to be developing a remake of the movie back in 2021, and more recently, 20th Century Studios was said to be in talks with Tyler Gillett, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Chad Villella, the trio collectively known as Radio Silence (V/H/S, Southbound, Scream), to take the helm of the planned reboot.
There have been rumors that star Kurt Russell might be in line to reprise the role of Snake Plissken, but it sounds like this take on the material will be a full reboot..
Russell played the eyepatch-wearing badass in Carpenter's original and his much-maligned sequel, Escape From L.A., and has expressed interest in potentially returning to one of his most iconic roles in the past.
Escape From New York takes place in a crime-ridden United States, which has converted Manhattan Island into the country's sole maximum-security prison. Air Force One is hijacked by anti-government insurgents, who deliberately crash it into the walled borough. Ex-soldier and current federal prisoner Snake Plissken is given just 24 hours to go in and rescue the President of the United States, after which, if successful, he will be pardoned.
StudioCanal also announced that Paddington 4 is in the works. No further details were shared, but it was noted that “world-renowned comedy writers” have been hired to pen the screenplay.
Finally, the studio revealed that they are also developing a new take on 1981 werewolf flick, The Howling.
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In 1997, a major war between the United States and the Soviet Union is concluding, and the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a giant maximum security prison. When Air Force One is hijacked and crashes into the island, the president (Donald Pleasence) is taken hostage by a group of inmates. Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), a former Special Forces soldier turned criminal, is recruited to retrieve the president in exchange for his own freedom.