Recently, it was announced that Robert Rodriguez had been chosen to direct the reboot of Escape From New York that is expected to come out sometime in the not so distant future. For those who are unfamiliar with his name, Rodriguez rose to prominence because of El Mariachi, which made $2 million at the box office on a production budget of $7,000. As a result, he was able to go on to make a number of well-known movies that range from the other two entries in the Mexico Trilogy to Sin City and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Based on this, it can be said that he seems like a solid choice for the Escape From New York reboot, though it remains to be seen how that will turn out in truth. On a positive note, it should be said that the original director John Carpenter has given his seal of approval to the script, which should come as encouraging news to those who are skeptical of reboots.
What Is the Escape From New York Reboot?
With that said, it is important to mention the movie that the reboot was based upon. In 1981, John Carpenter did not just direct Escape From New York but also both co-wrote and co-scored the movie, which was set in what would have been the near future of 1997 at the time. In the movie, Manhattan Island in New York City had been converted into a maximum security prison for the United States, which had been engulfed by wave after wave of crime. As a result, when Air Force One is crashed into New York City by terrorists, it was up to a federal prisoner named Snake Plissken to rescue the President of the United States. Something that involved confronting the powerful crime boss called the Duke of New York, who was planning to cross over the Queensboro Bridge by using the President as a human shield to deter the guards from shooting.
As for the Escape From New York reboot, it seems to be something that has been pleased for some time. After all, it was reported back in 2007 that Gerard Butler was close to signing a deal that would have seen him playing the role of Snake Plissken in a movie that was said to have been either a prequel or a reboot of the original, which would have had Neal Moritiz as a producer and Ken Nolan as the writer. In time, creative differences seemed to have resulted in significant changes to the line-up, with an excellent example being Butler’s departure from the project. As a result, New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. dropped the project by 2011, thus enabling 20th Century Fox to buy the film rights by 2015.
Curiously, it seems that the Escape From New York reboot under 20th Century Fox will have some significant differences from its predecessor, with examples ranging from how Manhattan Island will no longer be a maximum security prison to how the reboot will have a new villain as opposed to a imagining of the Duke of New York. Based on this, while the reboot will be a reboot, it seems that its narrative could hold a lot of surprises for the fans of the original movie.
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