If you look up ‘Badass Snake Plissken’ in the Big Book Of Iconic Movie Characters there is only ever a picture of Kurt Russell next to it. But that undisputed fact isn’t stopping another team from having a crack at reworking John Carpenter’s cult sci-fi favourite Escape From New York. Joel Silver and StudioCanal are the brave souls trying this time, braver still for the fact that they apparently want to attempt a trilogy based around Carpenter’s film.
The new plan calls first for a prequel that will dig into the time leading to Snake’s mission to rescue the President from a dystopian Manhattan, which has been abandoned/converted into a huge maximum-security prison. Figuring on a Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes idea, we’d guess they’d also show some of Snake’s back story. Though, if we’re honest, we’re not sure we need to explore that.
Still, if it works, it could be amazing - but that’s a big 'if'. Companies – especially New Line, with its long-gestating attempt to put the likes of Gerard Butler and Jeremy Renner into the eyepatch – have tried before without success. And adapting Carpenter’s movies hasn’t exactly led to a bumper crop of new material. But we’ll wait and see what happens this time.