18 Jan – After a competitive bidding war among movie studios, Fox ultimately emerged as the champion with the rights to remake the 1981 sci-fi action film "Escape From New York", Deadline reports. The cult favourite tells the story of Manhanttan Island in New York City being relegated to a maximum security prison. Snake Plissken has 22 hours to escape and save the president, in which failing so will result in Plissken being detonated. The original movie starred Kurt Russell in the lead role as Plissken. Now in his sixties, there's a pretty slim chance the actor will be back to don the iconic eye patch.
There have been rumours of other actors lined up for the remake, such as "Sons Of Anarchy" star Charlie Hunnam and "Blackhat" actor Chris Hemsworth. Russell's reaction to the possible casting was not entirely positive, saying that the role is quintessentially "American" – Hunnam is British while Hemsworth is Australian. According to Daily Mail, the original film's director John Carpenter will be joining the remake project but this time around as an executive producer with creative input. An attempt at a sequel in 1996, titled "Escape from L.A.", did not fare well with the critics.