Zack Snyder to Direct New Escape from New York Reboot

Director Zack Snyder is set to write and direct a new theatrical film reimagining John Carpenter’s 1981 dystopian classic, Escape from New York. The project, which has been in development for nearly two decades under various filmmakers, is now moving forward with Snyder at the helm and Carpenter serving as an executive producer.

The new film is being packaged by The Picture Company and StudioCanal, which controls the rights alongside Carpenter. Snyder will also produce through his Stone Quarry production company. The project is expected to be shopped to studios in the coming weeks with the intent of a theatrical release.

While specific plot details for Snyder’s version remain undisclosed, sources indicate the director aims for a grounded, practical approach to the material, moving away from the visual style of his recent superhero and sci-fi epics. The original film, set in a futuristic 1997, depicted Manhattan Island as a walled maximum-security prison. The story follows the eyepatch-wearing antihero Snake Plissken, played by Kurt Russell, who is coerced into infiltrating the prison city to rescue the President of the United States after Air Force One crashes there.