Joel Silver Suggests 'Escape From New York' Remake Would Be At Center Of New Trilogy

So is a remake of Escape From New York actually happening? Producer Joel Silver hopes so. It's a project that's been in development for almost a decade, most recently switching rights between studios. Even with the struggles, the producer behind The Matrix, Lethal Weapon and Die Hard has a very strong vision of how Snake Plissken can once again flourish on the big screen.

Silver's vision includes expanding the scope to give more backstory to Plissken and his world, and effectively setting up a trilogy where the second film would be a remake of the John Carpenter original, with a new prequel and sequel bookending it. Below, read some quotes from the producer with updates on the project.

Collider spoke to Silver about the project.

First up, he was asked if a script was done.

No, no we're not, no we're not. I mean, it's funny because we have a relationship with Studio Canal, which somehow ended up with the rights to that, and it has been floating around LA or at least in the development world for a long time.

Second, he talked about the scope of the project:

I always liked Kurt's character, the Snake Plissken character, so I've always like that idea, but we kind of figured out a way to do almost a trilogy of that story.

Then he elaborates on that thought. Here's the most important stuff:

There was a videogame that came out a few years ago called Arkham City, which shows how when Gotham became this kind of walled prison. And they never deal with that in the story of Escape from New York, so part of our idea was to kind of see how the city became this walled prison and how the Snake Plissken character was a hero and how he became not looked at as a hero. And then, in the middle of the story, would be the movie that we, you know, previously saw about the President's daughter goes down, he has to go in and get her. And then, you know, they did a sequel, Escape from LA, but I would like to then kind of find a way to have New York go back to a place that we'd like to see what it is today.

So is that something that's happening soon?

So there is a way to tell the story in three ways, but we haven't got there yet and we're just starting.

I definitely think Carpenter's Escape From New York feels like the second chapter in a bigger universe, but I never felt I actually needed to see that first chapter. Part of the appeal was how the director just drops you into this world, much like Plissken is dropped into New York. That said, if any of these films do happen, I'd be there in an instant. What about you?