Beloved 1980s sci-fi film classic starring Kurt Russell is getting a remake after 45 years

A remake of John Carpenter's iconic 1981 film Escape from New York is in the works at Studio Canal – with the upcoming movie described as a "reimagining" of the cult classic.

The project was unveiled by Hugh Spearing – the company's executive vice president of global marketing and distribution – during a presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, although no details were given about which personnel might be involved in the reboot.

This is the latest of many attempts to revive the franchise for the modern day, although all previous efforts have been abandoned. Producer Joel Silver, filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, and directing duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Giller have all variously 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.

It will certainly be interesting to see which actor might be brought on to take on the role of Plissken for this remake.

It was previously reported that MCU star and Russell's son Wyatt Russell was being eyed for one of the earlier planned reboots, although the actor himself showed little interest in the role and even declared that accepting it would be "career suicide".

"I don’t know if anybody else could be Snake Plissken," he told Esquire in 2022. "Good luck, go get ‘em, I sincerely wish you the best of luck. I just don’t know how it’s possible."

Of course, this is far from the first time one of Carpenter's classics has been rebooted – there have been countless revivals of the Halloween series over the years in addition to remakes of Assault on Precinct 13 and The Thing, among others.

Spearing revealed during the CinemaCon presentation that more news about the reboot would be coming soon, so we'll be looking out for any further details about which filmmakers and actors might be involved.

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