John Carpenter's 'Escape from New York' to Receive Upcoming Remake – And Fans Are All Saying the Same Thing: 'How About NO'

Forty-five years after the original stunned theatergoers across the globe, John Carpenter's iconic cult action film Escape from New York is currently scheduled to receive a long-awaited remake, as reported by IndieWire.

The announcement of the film came this past Monday at CinemaCon, with producer Studiocanal sharing few details about the project aside from the fact that it is currently in very early pre-production. Similarly, it's not yet known which cast or crew might sign on to work on the latest remake attempt of the cult classic '80s thriller.

As fans of the original might recall, Escape from New York featured a dystopian version of the U.S. where New York City has become a maximum security prison run by an authoritarian U.S. government.

When the President of the United States (Donald Pleasence) is kidnapped by opportunistic criminals inside the city, the government sends in disgraced ex-Special Forces operative Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) to rescue the president and avert the looming the threat of World War III.

Released to positive reviews at the time of its theatrical debut in 1981, Escape from New York has gone on to enjoy favored cult status in the decades since, with many fans and critics considering it one of director John Carpenter's best films.

With its iconic reputation today, most viewers remain largely ambivalent towards the idea of an Escape from New York remake, with one fan writing on IndieWire's Facebook post, "How about NO."

Of course, this is hardly the first time a remake of Escape from New York has been discussed by a major studio. As IndieWire pointed out, previous attempts to remake the film have been helmed by everyone from Joel Silver (Die Hard) and Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk till Dawn) to Radio Silence (Ready or Not), all of which have stalled out for some reason or another over the years.

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This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 9:27 AM.