Escape from New York (Remake)

[Hunter Rider]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=19396

The Escape Will Happen at New Line
Source: Variety
March 16, 2007


New Line has won the bidding war for a remake of Escape From New York, with 300 star Gerard Butler attached and Neal Moritz producing through his Original Films.

Black Hawk Down screenwriter Ken Nolan is attached to write the script. Executive producers include Original's Ori Marmur; Ron Halpern and Frederic Sichler of Canal Plus, which held the remake rights; and John Carpenter, who directed the 1981 original.

Butler would portray Snake Plissken, the convict and war hero who's sent into a futuristic New York City -- which has been turned into a giant maximum security prison -- to rescue the president of the U.S. after his plane is knocked down by terrorists. The original was set in 1998.

Kurt Russell played Plissken in the original film and again in Carpenter's 1996 sequel Escape From Los Angeles.

 

[Maze]

New line has won the rights to release it:


http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117961252.html?categoryId=1959&cs=1


i'm still not sure this is a good idea seeing the cv of the producer and Russel being just the one in my eyes , but i will wait to see who is the director..

 

[Maze]

lol , ok Hunter you were faster t:

hi

 

[Hunter Rider]

Heheh

Hi Maze

 

[DorkyFresh]

i hope Ken Nolan is a hell of a writer. Black Hawk Down was a pretty good movie but he was only screenwriter on that one.

hope they can get a good director.

 

[Michael Allred]

First I want to ask why some of you keep refering to "Escape from Earth" as if it was a legit idea? John Carpenter said that title AS A JOKE in an interview years ago. It was never a serious idea.

Second, for the fools who say Kurt Russell is "too old" to play Snake, go watch "Grindhouse" next month and come back here and say that again with a straight face.

Third, as others have mentioned, Kurt Russell defined the role of Snake. When people think of the character they see Kurt's face, hear his voice, etc. Mr. Butler has some HUGE shoes to fill. Let's not forget the director...talk about walking in a master's footprints.....who's gonna be brave enough to step up to it?

Finally, I'm seeing a pattern here with Carpenter remakes. They either change essential bits for the sake of change ("Assault on Precinct 13" which, by the way, did not use the famous theme music from the original) or overexplain EVERYTHING ("The Fog") or expand on themes not terribly necessary to the story ("Halloween.") Somehow I think the "Escape" remake will suffer from all three.

They should just make one more film with Kurt and Carpenter to cap it all off THEN do a remake.

BTW, where the hell is that videogame that was promised a few years ago with Kurt providing the voice?

 

[Michael Allred]

Don't forget "The Thing".

"The Thing" was NOT a remake.

Say it with me....

"The Thing" was NOT a remake.

 

[Kent]

"The Thing" was NOT a remake.

Say it with me....

"The Thing" was NOT a remake.

Yes it was.

 

[Advanced Dark]

"The Thing" was NOT a remake.

Say it with me....

"The Thing" was NOT a remake.

If you've read any of my prior posts I know all about The Thing from Another World. I don't care that they use the old film for a reference. It's a freaking remake disguised as a sequel. Yeah it takes place after the events of the first film but it's not a sequel. It just uses that 50's film for reference and to start the story. All of the old characters are dead. It's a restart and pretty much the same story as the first film. It's a remake.

 

[Advanced Dark]

Ok well it's a done deal. New Line picked it up.


http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i880911115a741b41ba2e70a55f606c26

By Borys Kit

March 16, 2007
New Line Cinema has gotten the keys to the new "Escape From New York."

The remake of the cult John Carpenter movie, being produced by Neal Moritz with Gerard Butler attached to star as Snake Plissken, hit the town this week and had several studios trying to capture it. Bidding was aggressive because Butler was coming off the whopping $70 million opening for "300."

New Line had been positioning itself for warden status when it first sniffed out that the package was in the works two weeks ago.

Ken Nolan ("Black Hawk Down") will write the script, which will combine an origin story for Plissken merged with the story of the 1981 movie. The original film was set in a futuristic 1997, when Manhattan had been turned into a giant maximum-security prison. The U.S. president's plane crashed on the island, and Plissken, incarcerated for robbing a federal reserve bank, was coerced into a rescue mission.

The movie made a lasting impression on a generation of males and was followed by a sequel 16 years later, "Escape From L.A.," as well as a comic book miniseries in 2003.

Moritz and his Original Film became involved when he was working with "Escape" co-rights holder StudioCanal on another project. StudioCanal will control the European territories.

" 'Escape From New York' is iconic," StudioCanal vice chairman Frederic Sichler said. "It's a privilege to be a partner in this rebirth of Snake Plissken with John Carpenter, Neal Moritz and New Line. And to have Gerard Butler to revisit Snake is fantastic."

Said co-rights holder Carpenter, who will serve as an executive producer: "Snake is one of my fondest creations. Kurt Russell did an incredible job, and it would be fun to see someone else try."

Carpenter remains surprised that his movie holds a place in the minds of moviegoers, as does the Plissken character. "I just thought it was a futuristic action movie when I did it the first time. It was a script that I used to fulfill a contract. And Kurt was primarily known as a child actor, and I thought it might be interesting to see him in a role like that. ... There's something fun about (Plissken). I think Kurt borrowed the eye patch from Kirk Douglas in 'The Vikings' -- that's my suspicion."

Sichler and Ron Halpern, senior vp international production and remake development at Canal Plus, will be executive producers as will Original production executive Ori Marmur.

Original is in preproduction on Screen Gems' horror remake "Prom Night" and the Sony Pictures romantic comedy "Made of Honor."

Toby Emmerich, Richard Brener and Keith Goldberg are overseeing for New Line.

Butler and Nolan are repped by CAA.

So they ARE gonna combine an origin story. Very awesome. Told ya.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Ya got scooped on that posts ago AD

 

[Advanced Dark]

Damn. I saw it earlier too but figured it was already here. I looked but not far enough up. Good one.

 

[TheVileOne]

Origin story for Snake = crap.

Every remake of Carpenter's work so far has been inferior and ridiculous crap.

The Thing was made over 25 years ago when Carpenter was a great filmmaker. Carpenter supporting or working on this project doesn't legitimize it.

 

[ghost_x]

Who's going to whip out there film first Escape From New York or the Metal Gear Solid movie

 

[Advanced Dark]

^ Like you've had a positive thing to say about anything except Spider-Man. LOL Carpenter being an executive producer of this project is a good thing. Also Assault on Precinct 13 was not crap. Very well made film. Also the origin story for Plisskin is the biggest thing missing from the 80's film. I was wanting to know more about the character prior to the events of EFNY. I wanted to see "why" everyone thought he was dead. I'm glad this project doesn't interest you. It'll save me time wading through your negativity.

On a side note we have to assume Kurt Russell will make an appearance. Should he be the President or the Police captain who sends him in. Would you like to see the police or armed forces try to go in an save Snake and fail or be called back like in Rambo. And again...how's he gonna get in and out. Is NY still gonna be a prison or some radioactive forbidden zone from a past terrorist attack that's been quarantined. That might be too sensitive of an issue if they did that.

 

[Gallagher]

Rant begins

NOOOOOOO!! Damnit im hearing about this now! Christ, this is terrible. I love EFNY its one of my favorite movies of all time. Ive tolerated all the Remakes from Hollywood so far, hell ive even defended them, but this has gone too far, you CANNOT remake Escape, especially without Russel. Butler is a good actor, but hes not Plissken. Nobody is, Its Carpenter and Kurt's baby. Why holly wood? are you that desperate for money? Jesus Christ they're the biggest media industry on the planet Film companies dont need to go back and ruin classics! The sad thing is... i will go and see it. I would have to on the basic principle that Its Escape, and there is that ray of hope that it may turn out half decent. This is the saddest news ive had in along time.
Oh and the origin for Snake is cool, did you see the alternate opening on the special edition DVD with the robbery? if thats what they mean by origin it was good.

Rant over.

 

[L0ngsh0t]

Who's directing? We gotta name yet?

Robert Rodriguez could be cool

Or they could try and overachive and let some visionary who can still make sweet action scenese do it like Alfonso Cuaron

 

[Michael Allred]

Yes it was.

No it wasn't, get it through yer head sonny.

 

[Michael Allred]

If you've read any of my prior posts I know all about The Thing from Another World. I don't care that they use the old film for a reference. It's a freaking remake disguised as a sequel. Yeah it takes place after the events of the first film but it's not a sequel. It just uses that 50's film for reference and to start the story. All of the old characters are dead. It's a restart and pretty much the same story as the first film. It's a remake.

Carpenter's film was based upon the short story NOT "The Thing from Another World." Carpenter's film exists NOT because of "Another World" but because of the short story. Where is your disconnect? If "The Thing from Another World" never existed as a film, there still could have been "The Thing" directed by John Carpenter. Using your logic then the recent "Casino Royale" is a remake of the ****ty 60s film and not a faithful adaptation of the novel.

 

[Advanced Dark]

^ Pave the road any way you like. I'm the one who said it's NOT a sequel. It's a retelling of the original story disguised as a seqeul. And don't think Carpenter wasn't inspired by the first film at all. My whole point was Carpenters film was NOT really a sequel at all but more of a remake of the original story. When I say remake I don't mean they're basing the film on the previous film neccessarily. It's a redo of the premise or franchise from another director with new actors. It doesn't matter if one is action and one is comedy. It's a different telling of the same premise. The 50's film wasn't exactly a faithful adaption so there's nothing wrong with calling someone elses attempt a remake based on "insert subject here".

As far as who's directing I think we can eliminate Peter Jackson. Maybe Sam Raimi.

His next film, The Thing (1982), is notable for its high production values, including innovative special effects by Rob Bottin, special visual effects by matte artist Albert Whitlock, a score by Ennio Morricone and a cast including rising star Kurt Russell and respected character actors such as Wilford Brimley, Richard Dysart, and Richard Masur. The Thing was made with a budget of $10,000,000,[16] Carpenter's largest up to that point, and distributed by Universal Pictures.

Although Carpenter's film was ostensibly a remake of the 1951 Howard Hawks film, The Thing from Another World, Carpenter's version is more faithful to the John W. Campbell, Jr. short story, Who Goes There?, upon which both films were based. Moreover, unlike the Hawks film, The Thing has a dark, pessimistic tone and a bleak ending, which didn't appeal to audiences in the summer of 1982, when it was released in the wake of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Consequently, it did not perform well commercially and was Carpenter's first financial failure. Later, the movie found new life in the home video and cable markets, and it is now widely regarded as one of the best horror films ever made.

-Wikpedia

 

[TheVileOne]

Giving Snake an origin is like Greedo shooting first.

Escape From New York was made at a time when not every character needed a stupid origin or a backstory. You can infer enough what Snake's backstory is. It's not important that you know every little minute detail.

We don't need to know how Snake lost his eye. The mystique of not knowing is what makes the character so great.

And this is what's happening with Halloween right now, and that's why it's going to be an absolute dog. There was a reason why Mike Myers was such a frightening character in 1978. There was a reason that Snake Plissken was an awesome anti-hero.

Hollywood just wants to strip all of that away now for a few bucks and it will fail.

These movies are called classic for a reason.

 

[Advanced Dark]

^ They weren't called classic when they were made. In fact if you read how John Carpenter came up with the idea he said himself he had no idea what he created. I think he also said it was Kurt Russell's idea to throw in the eye patch. It's a great character to build on and to update. I'd love to see Kurt Russell in his prime make this film now but he can't. The fans didn't even show up to Escape from LA which now is 11 years. He does not look the same and there's only so much you can hide with a camera. Also this is a franchise with several films in mind. I can't see Kurt playing Snake Plisskin at 65. There's nothing wrong with a retelling of a story and changing things to make it different and updating it to modern times. Could they F it up really bad? Maybe. I'm not just going to assume that though. New Line needs a big franchise. They don't have one really since LOTR is pretty much done. Don't you think 30+ years from now it might be cool to remake those films. I seem to remember you being a big supporter of King Kong being remade by Peter Jackson. Wasn't that the definition of classic?

 

[DorkyFresh]

"It's a privilege to be a partner in this rebirth of Snake Plissken with John Carpenter, Neal Moritz and New Line. And to have Gerard Butler to revisit Snake is fantastic."

Said co-rights holder Carpenter, who will serve as an executive producer: "Snake is one of my fondest creations. Kurt Russell did an incredible job, and it would be fun to see someone else try."

with Carpenter as optimistic about this project as well as serving as executive producer...it makes me wanna see this even more!

i'm gettin' tired of hearing all these people complain about how Plissken and Escape from NY are untouchable. it's not as if they're remaking Gone with the Wind or Godfather. in my opinion most of the people who don't want a remake of this are too stuck in the past. someone said they shouldn't give Snake an origin because EFNY was made in a time when the hero didn't need a past...well, now is not that time. we're in a new era of movies that are more fleshed out and feel more realistic than they were in the 80's. now-a-days, it's hard to sell a character that doesn't have a past ESPECIALLY when that character is the main focus of the film. that's one of the reasons why the previous 3 James Bond movies fell flat, because James Bond didn't feel fleshed out. he was a secret agent without a past....

that being said...if they can get a decent director i hope this film gets made. i know Kurt Russell was one of the things that made Escape in NY and LA so awesome but as i said...those films aren't untouchable. they're FAR from perfect and there's a lot of room to improve not only the story, but the action as well.

 

[DorkyFresh]

Who's directing? We gotta name yet?

Robert Rodriguez could be cool

Or they could try and overachive and let some visionary who can still make sweet action scenese do it like Alfonso Cuaron

i could only wish. Escape from NY with Gerard as Snake and Cuaron directing?



i would die...

 

[ghost_x]

Alex Proyas would make a great director