In April, Studio Canal revealed that a remake of John Carpenter’s iconic 1981 film Escape from New York was in the works at the studio – and it’s just been revealed that the project will be helmed by Zack Snyder.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 300 director – who is also known for his work in the old DC Universe and films such as Watchmen and Rebel Moon – will write and direct a “reimagining” of the cult action flick, while he will also serve as a producer on the movie.
The plan to reboot the franchise was previously unveiled by Hugh Spearing – the company’s executive vice president of global marketing and distribution – during a presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, although at that point no details were given about which personnel might be involved.
Snyder’s most recent film release was the second chapter of his epic sci-fi franchise Rebel Moon for Netflix, while he is currently in post-production on The Last Photograph, a drama which is due for release later in 2026.
According to the synopsis, that film will tell the story of an ex-DEA operative who searches the South American mountains for his missing niece and nephew after their parents are murdered.
There have been various attempts to revive Escape from New York for the modern day in the past, although all previous efforts have been abandoned well before ever making it to the big screen.
Producer Joel Silver, filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, and directing duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Giller have all been attached to proposed versions in the past that never moved past the early development stages.
The original film saw Kurt Russell star as Snake Plissken – an eye-patch adorning war veteran and convicted criminal in a dystopian future US, who is given 24 hours to rescue the President after Air Force One crashes in Manhattan, which now serves as a massive maximum security prison.
The film attracted strong reviews at the time – especially for its grimy dystopian atmosphere – and has maintained a cult following, while Russell reprised the role in Carpenter’s 1996 sequel Escape from LA, although that follow-up was less well-received.
Now that Snyder’s involvement is known, the next step is finding out who might step into the role of Plissken for this remake – and it will certainly be interesting to see which actor will be brought on.
One name we can probably rule out is Wyatt Russell, with the MCU star previously explaining that accepting a role originally made famous by his own father would be “career suicide”.
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