7/24/2023 0 Comments Squeed invasionAfter remaking The Thing (1982), based on Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby’s The Thing From Another World, for Universal, he was slated to direct a remake of Hawks’ Creature from the Black Lagoon. There were plans to bring Escape from New York into comics, and there were rumors Russell would voice Snake in an Anime adaptation of Escape from Earth.Īttempts to reboot Escape from New York passed through such directors Robert Rodriguez in 2017 and Leigh Whannell in 2019.Įscape from Earth isn’t the only project Carpenter couldn’t get off the ground. A video game called “Snake Plissken’s Escape” was approved, planned, and in the works for PlayStation 2, before it was canceled in 2004. The franchise has also been considered in other mediums. Paramount passed, the Snake character was changed to “Desolation Williams,” Ice Cube was cast in the lead, and it went out as Ghosts of Mars (2001). Carpenter submitted a screenplay for a film called Escape from Mars. One previous attempt at a potential Snake Plissken sequel came in 1996. Escape from Earth, and Russell’s Snake Plissken, could yet follow the same trajectory. Meanwhile Carpenter’s own Halloween set new standards on legacy sequels, with Jamie Lee Curtis growing stronger with every reprisal (and with the box office to match) in the recent Carpenter produced, and David Gordon Green directed, follow-ups. Perhaps most comparable to Escape from New York, is how Mad Max roared back with more force than the original in 2015, exploding from an Australian cult hit to being a post-apocalyptic Oscar winner and box office juggernaut via Mad Max: Fury Road. It took 39 years for Danny Torrance to recover from The Shining to become the title character in Doctor Sleep. Sixteen years passed between Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and its follow-up, 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984). To be sure, some franchises really are inescapable, with movie studios rushing follow-ups into production while properties are still hot. “I learned never to say never in the business. The DOA pronouncement could still be premature. But Snake Plissken is not the kind of character who can be killed so easily. Given the reception of the second Escape, however, Paramount wasn’t willing to fund the film, and it died in development. had a budget which rivaled its contemporary Jurassic Park, and both Carpenter and Russell planned to top the first two movies by going even bigger with Escape from Earth. A satire on the action movie genre itself, the film got poor reviews and lower theatrical attendance.Ĭarpenter redefined horror and independent film with Halloween(1978), which was, at the time, the most profitable indie film to hit big screens. Escape from L.A., which also had a class act ensemble in Cliff Robertson, Pam Grier, Stacy Keach, Steve Buscemi, and Peter Fonda, did not match it. Also starring Adrienne Barbeau, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Van Cleef, and Donald Pleasance, and featuring Isaac Hayes as the Duke of New York, it was a critical and box office hit. Its development lasted into the early 2000s, and for action movie fans of a certain age it still remains one of the great unmade Carpenter projects.Įscape from New York was inspired by the paranoia of Watergate and fueled by the mid-1970s rise in urban crime. “Well, it’s just sitting there,” Carpenter told Den of Geek about the legendary preparations for a follow-up project while discussing the 4K HD release of Escape from L.A. The project had all the makings of the conclusion of an epic sci-fi trilogy. A third film would be set in a world without electrical power but with plenty of narrative electricity. It is one of the biggest cliffhangers because, after an apparent off-screen debacle in Cleveland and two urban prison breaks, Snake hits the reset button on humanity, and there seems to be nowhere left to go.Ĭarpenter and Russell had plans to continue the escapade in a film called Escape from Earth. Every screen, all communications, and total power is cut. concludes with Snake Plissken pressing the button on the biggest remote control ever made. The film marked John Carpenter’s first sequel, following up on the iconic dystopian satire, Escape from New York (1981), with even more nihilistic bite, and an ending darker than a fade to black.ĭirected from a screenplay Carpenter co-wrote with Debra Hill and Russell, Escape from L.A. In it, former marine commando and all-around badass, Snake Plissken ( Kurt Russell), is captured by the New Moral America and dropped into the country’s immoral detention center to steal a doomsday device designed to douse all power on the planet. (1996) on 4K Ultra HD and its darkness has never been clearer. Paramount Home Entertainment just released Escape from L.A.
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