Why are they remaking Escape From New York?

No, I’m serious.  Why are they remaking Escape From New York? What is the motivation, here? Particularly since I’ve heard that the plot as well as, effectively, the location is going to be remarkably different.  Why not call it… something else?  Something that won’t tick off people who saw nothing wrong with the original.

Moe Lane

PS: Besides, Escape From New York had a worthy remake.  It was called Arkham City, and it managed ‘worthy remake’ by the bold move of replacing Snake Plissken with Batman.  That’s the only way you can get away with doing something like that, really.  Batman trumps all.

11 thoughts on “Why are they remaking Escape From New York?”

  1. They remade CHiPs, for goodness sake. The bottom of the barrel is being scraped as we speak. Soon we shall see “The Fall Guy” and “Tales of the Gold Monkey” on the big screen. When they’ve exhausted that particular well, we’ll see “The Facts of Life” reimagined for a 21st century audience, and then, when we’ve all gone hoarse begging for mercy, Hollywood will give us what we deserve: remakes of “Charles In Charge” (retaining Scott Baio and Willie Ames in the lead role) and “Small Wonder.”

    1. Just wait for the remakes of “My Mother, the Car” and “Me and the Chimp”.

      1. My Mother The Car, starring Marlon Wayans. For the other one, I imagine they’ll have to poach one of those new Ghostbusters, in the interest of equality, and all that.

  2. To be honest, Escape From New York hasn’t aged very well. Escape From Los Angeles even more so on top of being awful (Bangkok Rules and the very last scene are any good).
    .
    Is that enough reason to remake either? No, but I want to see what they have before passing judgement.

    1. It is possible that I am extra-jaundiced on this one because of Escape From LA. Not least because they had a Bruce Campbell on hand, and they gave him his fifteen minutes or so, and then they let him… go do something else.

  3. Because, as the gay communist associate recently pointed out, Hollywood has largely driven out the creative types in favor of the product-marketing types ..
    .
    They’re looking at movies like brands, and trying to “refresh” them .. they don’t want new ideas, they want opportunities to re-sell old ideas.
    .
    The ideal movie franchise would be very much like a Bic razor or a Chevy sedan .. easy to punch out, minor updates every season, and predictable financial returns.
    .
    Creativity? Zeitgeist? These are not what successful brand managers crave… and so, Hollywood give us .. this: http://www.powerrangers.movie/
    .
    Mew

    1. I should note, the “Chevy sedan/Bic razor” movie isn’t a new idea; Walt Disney allegedly planned to release updated versions of “Fantasia” every year.
      .
      Then, of course, WWII happened, and by the time it was over, revisiting “Fantasia” was not on Walt’s list of things to do.
      .
      Mew

  4. I suppose everyone here has seen District B-13. That’s a worthy film that follows the same general principle as Escape from New York and Arkham City.

  5. We already have Escape from NY and LA, IRL. It’s called Those-who-move-to-Texas-et-al.

    1. Y’all best get about assimilatin’ ’em.
      .
      The Texan viral culture is your best defense.
      .
      Mew

Comments are closed.