Escape from New York#Cast

In 1988, amidst war between the United States and an alliance of China and the Soviet Union, Manhattan has been converted into a maximum security prison to address a 400% increase in crime. The island is walled off from the outside world and under heavy police surveillance.

In 1997, while flying President John Harker to a peace summit in Hartford, Air Force One is hijacked by a terrorist. The President is handcuffed with a briefcase and put into an escape pod that drops into Manhattan as the aircraft crashes.

Police are dispatched to rescue the President. Romero, a subordinate of the Duke of New York (a powerful crime boss), warns the President has been captured and will be killed if any further rescue attempts are made. Meanwhile, former Special Forces soldier Snake Plissken is about to be imprisoned in Manhattan after being convicted of robbing the Federal Reserve. Snake accepts a deal from Police Commissioner Bob Hauk in which he will be pardoned in exchange for rescuing the President in time for the summit. To ensure his cooperation, Hauk has Snake injected with micro-explosives that will sever his carotid arteries in 22 hours. If Snake is successful, Hauk will neutralize the explosives.

Snake uses a stealth glider to land atop the World Trade Center, then follows the signal of the President's tracking device to a vaudeville theater, only to find the tracker on the arm of a deluded vagrant. Snake is convinced the President is dead, but Hauk warns him he will be killed if he returns without the President. Inspecting the escape pod, Snake is ambushed by dozens of starving "crazies" and his radio is destroyed. He is rescued by "Cabbie", a jovial character who drives a taxi.

Cabbie takes Snake to Harold "Brain" Hellman, an adviser to the Duke and a former associate of Snake's. An engineer, Brain has established a small gasoline refinery fueling the city's remaining cars; he tells Snake the Duke plans to lead a mass escape across the 69th Street Bridge, using the President as a human shield. Snake forces Brain and his girlfriend Maggie to lead him to the Duke's hideout at Grand Central Terminal. Snake finds the President but gets shot in the leg with a crossbow bolt and is overpowered by the Duke's men.

While Snake is forced to fight against Duke's champion Slag in a deathmatch, Brain and Maggie kill Romero and flee with the President. Snake kills Slag and finds the trio trying to escape in the glider. Inmates drop the glider off the roof, forcing the group back down to street level where they are confronted by the Duke and his followers. Cabbie arrives and offers to take them across the bridge. Cabbie reveals he bartered with Romero for a cassette tape that contains information about nuclear fusion, intended to be an international peace offering. The President demands the cassette, but Snake retains it.

The Duke gives chase, setting off mines as he tries to catch up. Brain guides Snake, but they hit a mine and Cabbie is killed. As they continue on foot, Brain accidentally stumbles onto another mine. A distraught Maggie sacrifices herself to slow down the Duke. Snake and the President reach the containment wall and guards hoist the President up. The Duke opens fire, killing the guards before Snake subdues him. As Snake is being lifted up by the rope, the Duke attempts to shoot him, but the President takes up a dead guard's rifle and kills the Duke. Snake is hoisted to safety and Hauk's doctor removes the explosives in his neck with seconds to spare.

As the President prepares for a televised speech to the leaders at the summit meeting, he thanks Snake for saving him but offers only half-hearted regret for the deaths of his colleagues; Snake walks away in disgust. Hauk offers Snake a job as his deputy but he keeps walking. The President's speech commences and he plays the cassette. To his embarrassment, it only plays Cabbie's favorite song, "Bandstand Boogie". As Snake walks away a free man, he pulls the real cassette from his pocket and destroys it.

{{Cast listing|

• Kurt Russell as Lieutenant S.D. Bob "Snake" Plissken
• Lee Van Cleef as Police Commissioner Bob Hauk
• Ernest Borgnine as "Cabbie"
• Donald Pleasence as President John Harker
• Isaac Hayes as "The Duke"
• Season Hubley as Maureen, Girl In Chock Full o' Nuts
• Harry Dean Stanton as Harold "Brain" Hellman
• Adrienne Barbeau as Maggie
• Tom Atkins as Captain Rehme
• Charles Cyphers as Secretary of State York
• Frank Doubleday as Romero
• Arden Young as Dr. Cronenberg

}}

Carpenter originally wrote the screenplay for Escape from New York in 1976, in the aftermath of Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal. Carpenter said, "The whole feeling of the nation was one of real cynicism about the president."{{cite web |last1=Dawson |first1=Dylan |title=Double Future 1997: 'Escape From New York' vs. 'The Fifth Element' |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/double-future-1997-escape-from-new-york-vs-the-fifth-element/ |website=Vice |access-date=21 May 2020 |date=9 July 2017}} He wrote the screenplay, but no studio wanted to make it because, according to Carpenter, "[i]t was too violent, too scary, [and] too weird".{{cite news|last=Yakir |first=Dan |title='Escape' Gives Us Liberty |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 4, 1980 |url=http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/press/nypost801014.html |access-date=March 10, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317210916/http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/press/nypost801014.html |archive-date=March 17, 2007 }} He had been inspired by the film Death Wish, which was very popular at the time. He did not agree with this film's philosophy, but liked how it conveyed "the sense of New York as a kind of jungle, and I wanted to make a science-fiction film along these lines".{{cite magazine|last=Maronie |first=Samuel J. |title=On the Set with Escape from New York |magazine=Starlog |number=45 |date=April 1981 |url=}}

International Film Investors agreed to provide 50% of the budget, and Goldcrest Films signed a co-financing deal with them. They ended up providing £720,000 of the budget and making a profit of £672,000 from their investment after earning £1,392,000.{{Cite book|pages=[https://archive.org/details/myindecisionisfi00eber/page/59 59], 655|title=My indecision is final|url=https://archive.org/details/myindecisionisfi00eber|url-access=registration|first1=Jake|last1= Eberts |first2=Terry|last2=Illott|year=1990 |publisher=Faber and Faber|isbn=9780571148882 }}

AVCO Embassy Pictures, the film's financial backer, preferred Charles Bronson, Tommy Lee Jones or Chuck Norris to play the role of Snake Plissken to Carpenter's choice of Kurt Russell, who was trying to overcome the "lightweight" screen image conveyed by his roles in several Disney comedies. Carpenter refused to cast Bronson on the grounds that he was too old, and because he worried that he could lose directorial control over the film with an experienced actor. At the time, Russell described his character as "a mercenary, and his style of fighting is a combination of Bruce Lee, The Exterminator, and Darth Vader, with Eastwood's vocal-ness."{{cite magazine|last=Hogan |first=Richard |title=Kurt Russell Rides a New Wave in Escape Film |magazine=Circus |year=1980 |url=http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/press/circus1980.html |access-date=March 10, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317172535/http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/press/circus1980.html |archive-date=March 17, 2007 }}{{Cite web|url=https://cinephiliabeyond.org/escape-new-york-john-carpenters-thrilling-pumped-ride-streets-dystopian-new-york-city/|title='Escape from New York': John Carpenter's Thrilling, Pumped-Up Ride through the Streets of a Dystopian New York City • Cinephilia & Beyond|date=August 8, 2016}} Russell suggested that the character should wear an eyepatch.{{Cite web|url=https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/interviews/a39140/kurt-russell-bone-tomahawk/|title=Kurt Russell on the American Tough Guy and His New Cannibal Western|date=October 25, 2015|website=Esquire}}{{cite web | url=https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a26660038/kurt-russell-best-movies-interview/ | title=Kurt Russell Reveals the Bizarre Injury That Pushed Him into Acting Full-Time | date=March 5, 2019 }} All that matters to Snake, according to the actor, is "the next 60 seconds. Living for exactly that next minute is all there is." Russell used a rigorous diet and exercise program to develop a lean and muscular build. He also endeavored to stay in character between takes and throughout the shooting, as he welcomed the opportunity to get away from the Disney comedies he had done previously. He did find it necessary to remove the eyepatch between takes, as wearing it constantly seriously affected his depth perception.{{cite magazine|last=Goldberg |first=Lee |title=Kurt Russell — Two-Fisted Hero |magazine=Starlog |number=108 |date=July 1986 }}

Carpenter had just made Dark Star, but no one wanted to hire him as a director, so he assumed he would make it in Hollywood as a screenwriter. The filmmaker went on to do other films with the intention of making Escape later. After the success of Halloween, Avco-Embassy signed producer Debra Hill and him to a two-picture deal. The first film from this contract was The Fog. Initially, the second film he was going to make to finish the contract was The Philadelphia Experiment, but because of script-writing problems, Carpenter rejected it in favor of this project. However, Carpenter felt something was missing and recalls, "This was basically a straight action film. And at one point, I realized it really doesn't have this kind of crazy humor that people from New York would expect to see."{{cite magazine|last=Swires |first=Steve |title=John Carpenter |magazine=Starlog |date=July 1981 |number=48 }} He brought in Nick Castle, a friend from his film-school days at University of Southern California, who played "The Shape" in Halloween. Castle invented the Cabbie character and came up with the film's ending.{{cite news|title=Launch of a giddy fantasy a director reaches for the stars with computer aid |last=Ryan |first=Desmond |newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=July 14, 1984 |page=D01}}

The film's setting proved to be a potential problem for Carpenter, who needed to create a decaying, semi-destroyed version of New York City on a shoestring budget. The film's production designer Joe Alves and he rejected shooting on location in New York City because it would be too hard to make it look like a destroyed city. Carpenter suggested shooting on a movie back lot, but Alves nixed that idea "because the texture of a real street is not like a back lot."{{cite news | last = Beeler

| first = Michael | title = Escape from N.Y.: Filming the Original | publisher = Cinefantastique

}} They sent Barry Bernardi, their location manager (and associate producer), "on a sort of all-expense-paid trip across the country looking for the worst city in America," producer Debra Hill remembers.

Bernardi suggested East St. Louis, Illinois, because it was filled with old buildings "that exist in New York now, and [that] have that seedy run-down quality" that the team was looking for.{{cite magazine|last=Maronie |first=Samuel J. |title=From Forbidden Planet to Escape from New York: A candid conversation with SFX & production designer Joe Alves |magazine=Starlog |number=46 |date=May 1981 |url=http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/press/starlog8105.html |access-date=March 10, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317172834/http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/press/starlog8105.html |archive-date=March 17, 2007 }} East St. Louis, sitting across the Mississippi River from the more prosperous St. Louis, Missouri, had entire neighborhoods burned out in 1976 during a massive urban fire. Hill said in an interview, "block after block was burnt-out rubble. In some places, there was absolutely nothing, so that you could see three and four blocks away." Also, Alves found an old bridge to serve as the "69th St. Bridge". The filmmaker purchased the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge for one dollar from the government and then gave it back to them, for the same amount, once production was completed, "so that they wouldn't have any liability," Hill remembers. Locations across the river in St. Louis were used, including Union Station and the Fox Theatre, both of which have since been renovated,{{cite news|title=Show Me the movies|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|date=April 17, 2005|author=Williams, Joe|page=C1}} as well as the building that would eventually become the Schlafly Tap Room microbrewery.

Carpenter and his crew persuaded the city to shut off the electricity to 10 blocks at a time at night. The film was shot from August to November 1980. It was a tough and demanding shoot for the filmmaker as he recalls. "We'd finish shooting at about 6 am and I'd just be going to sleep at 7 when the sun would be coming up. I'd wake up around 5 or 6 pm, depending on whether or not we had dailies, and by the time I got going, the sun would be setting. So for about two and a half months I never saw daylight, which was really strange." The gladiatorial fight to the death scene between Snake and Slag (played by professional wrestler Ox Baker) was filmed in the Grand Hall at St. Louis Union Station. Russell has stated, "That day was a nightmare. All I did was swing a [spiked] bat at that guy and get swung at in return. He threw a trash can in my face about five times ... I could have wound up in pretty bad shape."[https://collider.com/kurt-russell-escape-from-new-york-capetown-film-fest-recap/ Kurt Russell Talks About Shooting ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK at the EW CapeTown Film Fest; Plus His Thoughts on the Remake|Collider] In addition to shooting on location in St. Louis, Carpenter shot parts of the film in Los Angeles. Various interior scenes were shot on a sound stage; the final scenes were shot at the Sepulveda Dam in Sherman Oaks. New York served as a location, as did Atlanta, to use their futuristic-looking rapid-transit system (the latter scenes were cut from the final film).{{cite news|title=St. Louis Q&A|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|author=Berger, Jerry|date=February 5, 1995|page=17}} In New York City, Carpenter persuaded federal officials to grant access to Liberty Island. "We were the first film company in history allowed to shoot on Liberty Island at the Statue of Liberty at night. They let us have the whole island to ourselves. We were lucky. It wasn't easy to get that initial permission. They'd had a bombing three months earlier and were worried about trouble".{{cite news|last=Osborne |first=Robert |title=On Location |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=October 24, 1980 |url=http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/press/reporter801024.html |access-date=March 10, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317172451/http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/press/reporter801024.html |archive-date=March 17, 2007 }}

File:Escape From New York Wireframe.jpg

Carpenter was interested in creating two distinct looks for the movie. "One is the police state, high tech, lots of neon, a United States dominated by underground computers. That was easy to shoot compared to the Manhattan Island prison sequences, which had few lights, mainly torch lights, like feudal England". Certain matte paintings were rendered by James Cameron, who was at the time a special-effects artist with Roger Corman's New World Pictures. Cameron was also one of the directors of photography on the film. As Snake pilots the glider into the city, three screens on his control panel display wireframe animations of the landing target on the World Trade Center and surrounding buildings. Carpenter initially wanted high-tech computer graphics, which were very expensive, even for such a simple animation. The effects crew filmed the miniature model set of New York City they used for other scenes under black light, with reflective tape placed along every edge of the model buildings. Only the tape is visible and appears to be a three-dimensional wireframe animation.{{cite video|title=Escape from New York (Special Edition)|date=2003|people=Atkins, Tom; Barbeau, Adrienne}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.cracked.com/article_19140_8-movie-special-effects-you-wont-believe-arent-cgi.html|title=8 Movie Special Effects You Didn't Know Weren't CGI: Classic|website=Cracked.com|date=April 18, 2011 |access-date=July 19, 2017}}

{{main|Escape from New York (soundtrack)}}

Escape from New York was released on LaserDisc 10 times between 1983 and 1998.{{cite web|title=LaserDisc Database - Search - Advanced Search|url=https://www.lddb.com/search.php?adv_search=Escape+from+New+York&adv_reference=|website=LaserDisc Database|access-date=24 April 2018}} A 1994 Collector's Edition includes a commentary track by John Carpenter and Kurt Russell that is still included on more recent DVD releases of the film.{{cite web|title=LaserDisc Database - Escape from New York: Collector's Edition [ID2330SU]|url=https://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/05738/ID2330SU/Escape-from-New-York:-Collector's-Edition|website=LaserDisc Database|access-date=24 April 2018}}

Escape from New York was released on DVD twice by MGM (USA), and once by Momentum Pictures (UK). One MGM release is a barebones edition containing just the theatrical trailer. Another version is the Collector's Edition, a two-disc set featuring a high definition remastered transfer with a 5.1 stereo audio track, two commentaries (one by John Carpenter and Kurt Russell, another by producer Debra Hill and Joe Alves), a making-of featurette, the first issue of a comic book series titled John Carpenter's Snake Plissken Chronicles, and the 10-minute Colorado bank robbery deleted opening sequence.{{cite magazine| last = Netherby| first = Jennifer| title = Escape to a special edition| magazine = Video Business| volume = 23| issue = 34| page = 8| date = August 25, 2003}}

MGM's special edition of the 1981 film was not released until 2003 because the original negative had gone missing. The workprint containing deleted scenes finally turned up in a salt-mine film depository in Hutchinson, Kansas. The excised scenes feature Snake Plissken robbing a bank, introducing the character of Plissken and establishing a backstory. Director John Carpenter decided to add the original scenes into the special edition release as an extra only: "After we screened the rough cut, we realized that the movie didn't really start until Snake got to New York. It wasn't necessary to show what sent him there."{{cite magazine| last = Hulse| first = Ed| title = A newfound Escape| magazine = Video Business| volume = 23| issue = 47| page = 33| date = November 24, 2003| issn=0279-571X}} The film has been released on the UMD format for Sony's PlayStation Portable.{{cite web|access-date=August 28, 2008|url=http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4592016|title= Escape From New York (UMD Video For PSP) |publisher=Wal-Mart }}

On August 3, 2010, MGM Home Entertainment released Escape From New York as a bare-bones Blu-ray.{{cite web|access-date=January 10, 2015|url=http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=15783|title=Escape From New York Collector's Edition Blu-ray|publisher=Blu-ray.com}} Scream Factory, in association with Shout! Factory, released the film on a special edition Blu-ray on April 21, 2015.{{cite web|access-date=January 10, 2015|url=http://www.fangoria.com/new/complete-specs-released-for-scream-factorys-escape-from-new-york-blu-ray/|title=Escape From New York Collector's Edition Blu-ray|publisher=Blu-ray.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219221640/http://www.fangoria.com/new/complete-specs-released-for-scream-factorys-escape-from-new-york-blu-ray/|archive-date=February 19, 2015|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}

Escape from New York opened in New York and Los Angeles July 10, 1981. The film grossed $26 million in American theaters in summer 1981. Worldwide it grossed over $50 million.

The film received generally positive reviews. Newsweek magazine wrote of Carpenter: "[He has a] deeply ingrained B-movie sensibility – which is both his strength and limitation. He does clean work, but settles for too little. He uses Russell well, however".{{cite magazine|title=A Helluva Town |magazine=Newsweek |date=July 27, 1981 |url=http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/press/newsweek810727.html |access-date=May 30, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070319005440/http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/press/newsweek810727.html |archive-date=March 19, 2007 }} In Time magazine, Richard Corliss wrote, "John Carpenter is offering this summer's moviegoers a rare opportunity: to escape from the air-conditioned torpor of ordinary entertainment into the hothouse humidity of their own paranoia. It's a trip worth taking".{{cite magazine|last=Corliss |first=Richard |title=Bad Apples |magazine=Time |date=July 13, 1981 |url=http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/press/time810713.html |access-date=May 30, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807232107/http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/press/time810713.html |archive-date=August 7, 2007 }} Vincent Canby, in his review for The New York Times, wrote, "[The film] is not to be analyzed too solemnly, though. It's a toughly told, very tall tale, one of the best escape (and escapist) movies of the season".{{cite news|last=Canby |first=Vincent |title=Escape from New York |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 10, 1981 |url=http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/press/nytimes810710.html |access-date=May 30, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070319004937/http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/press/nytimes810710.html |archive-date=March 19, 2007 }} On the other hand, in his negative review for the Chicago Reader, critic Dave Kehr, wrote "it fails to satisfy – it gives us too little of too much".{{cite news | last = Kehr | first = Dave | title = Escape from New York | newspaper = Chicago Reader | url = http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/3169_ESCAPE_FROM_NEW_YORK | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110806212356/http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/escape-from-new-york/Film?oid=1067393 | archive-date = August 6, 2011 | access-date = January 1, 2021 }}

Christopher John reviewed Escape from New York in Ares Magazine #10 and commented that "It is solid summer entertainment of unusually high caliber. By not pretending to be more than it is, but by also not settling for any less than it could be, Escape becomes an exciting, fast-moving drama, the likes of which we haven't seen in years."{{cite magazine | last=John | first=Christopher | title=Film & Television | magazine=Ares Magazine | date=September 1981 | issue=10 | pages=12–13}}

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of 72 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Featuring an atmospherically grimy futuristic metropolis, Escape from New York is a strange, entertaining jumble of thrilling action and oddball weirdness."{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1006717_escape_from_new_york |title=Escape from New York |website=Rotten Tomatoes }} {{Metacritic film prose|76|12}}{{cite web |title=Escape from New York |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/escape-from-new-york |website=Metacritic}} Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZktOAAAAIBAJ&q=CinemaScore |title=The Spokesman-Review |publisher=The Spokesman-Review |language=en}}

Cyberpunk pioneer William Gibson credits the film as an influence on his 1984 science fiction novel Neuromancer. "I was intrigued by the exchange in one of the opening scenes where the Warden says to Snake 'You flew the Gullfire over Leningrad, didn't you?' It turns out to be just a throwaway line, but for a moment it worked like the best SF where a casual reference can imply a lot".{{cite news |last=McCaffery |first=Larry |title=Storming the Reality Studio: A Casebook of Cyberpunk and Postmodern Science Fiction |publisher=Duke University Press |year=1992 |url=http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/gibson_interview.html |access-date=January 11, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125090151/http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/gibson_interview.html |archive-date=January 25, 2012 |url-status=dead }} Popular video game director Hideo Kojima copied aspects of the film for his Metal Gear series. Solid Snake heavily resembles the character Snake Plissken. In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Snake even uses the alias "Pliskin" to hide his real identity during most of the game.SEAL: I'm not an enemy. Calm down. My name is S... My name is Pliskin. Iroquois Pliskin, Lieutenant Junior Grade. (Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Konami, 2001). J. J. Abrams, producer of the 2008 film Cloverfield, mentioned that a scene in his film, which shows the head of the Statue of Liberty crashing into a New York street, was inspired by the poster for Escape from New York.{{cite news|title=Commentary: Filmmakers enjoy laying waste to New York|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|author=Eberson, Sharon|date=January 4, 2008}} Empire magazine ranked Snake Plissken number 29 in their "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters" poll.{{cite magazine | title = The 100 Greatest Movie Characters | magazine = Empire | url = https://www.empireonline.com/100-greatest-movie-characters/default.asp?c=71 | access-date = December 2, 2008 | archive-date = November 7, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111107044417/http://www.empireonline.com/100-greatest-movie-characters/default.asp?c=71 | url-status = dead }}

{{main|Escape from L.A.}}

A sequel, Escape from L.A., was released in 1996, with Carpenter returning along with Russell, now also a producer and co-writer.

A remake for Escape from New York began development in 2007, when New Line Cinema won the rights to remake in a bidding war. Gerard Butler was attached to play Snake Plissken, Neal H. Moritz would produce through his Original Film company, and Ken Nolan would be in charge of the screenplay.{{cite web |url= https://variety.com/2007/film/features/new-line-plotting-butler-escape-1117961252/|title= New Line plotting Butler 'Escape'|date= March 15, 2007|access-date= March 25, 2022|first= Dave|last= McNary|work= Variety|url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071105212559/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117961252.html?categoryId=1959&cs=1|archive-date= November 5, 2007}} Len Wiseman was announced to direct, but was later replaced by Brett Ratner, who also stepped down from the project.{{cite web |url= https://movieweb.com/len-wiseman-to-remake-escape-from-new-york/|title= Len Wiseman to Remake Escape from New York|access-date= March 25, 2022|date= August 14, 2007|work= Movieweb}}{{cite web |url= http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3418&Itemid=99|title= Confirmed: Ratner Replaces Wiseman on New York Plus an Update on Gears of War!|date= October 4, 2007|access-date= March 25, 2022|work= IESB|first= Robert|last= Sanchez|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071008080709/http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3418&Itemid=99|archive-date= October 8, 2007}}{{cite web |url= http://movies.ign.com/articles/830/830972p1.html|title= Ratner Escapes From Remake?|date= October 29, 2007|access-date= March 25, 2022|work= IGN|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071031075243/http://movies.ign.com/articles/830/830972p1.html|archive-date= October 31, 2007}} In April 2010, Variety reported that Breck Eisner was being looked at to direct a remake of Escape from New York, with David Kajganich and Allan Loeb providing revisions to the script.{{cite web |url= https://variety.com/2010/film/news/new-line-plans-escape-with-breck-eisner-1118018171/|title= New Line plans 'Escape' with Breck Eisner|date= April 22, 2010|access-date= March 25, 2022|first= Dave|last= McNary|work= Variety}} It was later announced in 2011 that New Line had dropped the remake completely.{{cite web |url= https://deadline.com/2011/07/new-line-dropping-escape-from-new-york-148544/|title= New Line Dropping 'Escape From New York'|date= July 20, 2011|access-date= March 25, 2022|work= Deadline|first= Mike Jr.|last= Fleming}} In January 2015, 20th Century Fox purchased the remake rights, with The Picture Company producing.{{cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2015/01/escape-from-new-york-remake-fox-john-carpenter-1201349382/|title='Escape From New York' Remake Rights Deal Won By Fox|date= January 13, 2015|access-date=March 25, 2022|first=Mike Jr.|last=Fleming|work=Deadline Hollywood}} In March 2017, it was announced that Robert Rodriguez would direct a remake of the film with Carpenter producing it.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2017/03/robert-rodriguez-escape-from-new-york-director-1202051424/|title=Robert Rodriguez To Direct 'Escape From New York'|first=Mike Jr.|last=Fleming|date=March 24, 2017|work=Deadline Hollywood}} In February 2019, it was reported that Leigh Whannell would be writing the script after Luther creator Neil Cross completed a recent iteration of the project.{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/leigh-whannell-tackle-escape-new-york-remake-1181620|title=Leigh Whannell to Tackle 'Escape From New York' Remake for Fox (Exclusive)|first=Borys|last=Kit|website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=February 1, 2019}} Wyatt Russell, son of Kurt, was considered to portray Snake Plissken, but he expressed no interest in playing the role, considering it "career suicide."{{cite web |url= https://www.joblo.com/escape-from-new-york-reboot-wyatt-russell/|title= Escape from New York reboot: Wyatt Russell isn't interested in playing Snake|first= Kevin|last= Fraser|date= April 19, 2021|access-date= March 25, 2022|work= JoBlo}} In November 2022, it was revealed that Radio Silence would be directing the film, with Andrew Rona, Alex Heineman, and Radio Silence producing, and Carpenter serving as an executive producer. They are currently searching for a writer.{{cite web |first=Justin |last=Kroll |title=Radio Silence To Direct New 'Escape From New York' Movie For 20th Century Studios |url=https://deadline.com/2022/11/radio-silence-escape-from-new-york-pic-1235175637/ |date=November 17, 2022 |website=Deadline Hollywood |access-date=November 17, 2022}} The next month, the film was confirmed to be a sequel, rather than a remake.{{cite web |url=https://www.thewrap.com/escape-from-new-york-remake-status-update-radio-silence/ |title=New 'Escape From New York' Will Be a Continuation of John Carpenter Original, Not a Remake |website=TheWrap |first=Tyler |last=Gillett |date=December 15, 2022 |access-date=December 15, 2022}}

In 1981, Bantam Books published a movie tie-in novelization written by Mike McQuay that adopts a lean, humorous style reminiscent of the film. The novel includes significant scenes that were cut from the film, such as the Federal Reserve Depository robbery that results in Snake's incarceration. The novel provides background on the relationship between Snake and Hauk—presenting the characters as disillusioned war veterans, and deepening the relationship that was only hinted in the film. The novel also explains how Snake lost his eye during the Battle for Leningrad in World War III, how Hauk became warden of New York, and Hauk's quest to find his crazed son, who lives somewhere in the prison. The novel gives greater detail on the world in which these characters live, at times presenting a future even bleaker than the one depicted in the film. It explains that the West Coast is a no-man's land, and the nation's population is gradually being driven insane by nerve gas as a result of World War III. The novel also clarifies that the president's plan for the cassette tape is not benevolent. Rather than presenting to the world a new energy source in the form of nuclear fusion (as claimed in the film), the tape actually reveals the successful development of a "fallout-free thermonuclear weapon, which would grant the US supremacy in the global conflict.{{cite book |last=McQuay |first=Mike |title=Escape from New York |publisher=Bantam Books |date=May 1981 |isbn=0-553-25375-1}}{{cite web |last1=Roberts |first1=K.E. |title="A Little Human Compassion": John Carpenter's 'Escape from New York' as Anti-Fascist Satire |url=https://wearethemutants.com/2016/09/12/a-little-human-compassion/ |website=wearethemutants.com |publisher=We Are the Mutants |access-date=29 April 2020 |date=12 September 2016}}{{cite web |last1=Barr |first1=Clayton |title=The Snake Plissken Chronicles |url=http://snake.popapostle.com/html/episodes/Escape-from-New-York.htm |website=popapostle.com |publisher=Pop Apostle |access-date=29 April 2020}}

Marvel Comics released the one-shot The Adventures of Snake Plissken in January 1997. The story takes place sometime between Escape from New York and before his famous Cleveland escape mentioned in Escape from L.A. Snake has robbed Atlanta's Centers for Disease Control of some engineered metaviruses and is looking for buyers in Chicago. Finding himself in a deal that is really a set-up, he makes his getaway and exacts revenge on the buyer for ratting him out to the United States Police Force. In the meantime, a government lab has built a robot called ATACS (Autonomous Tracking And Combat System) that can catch criminals by imprinting their personalities upon its program to predict and anticipate a specific criminal's every move. The robot's first test subject is America's public enemy number one, Snake Plissken. After a brief battle, the tide turns when ATACS copies Snake to the point of fully becoming his personality. Now recognizing the government as the enemy, ATACS sides with Snake. Unamused, Snake sucker punches the machine and destroys it. As ATACS shuts down, it can only ask him, "Why?" Snake just walks off, answering, "I don't need the competition".

In 2003, CrossGen and Hurricane Entertainment published John Carpenter's Snake Plissken Chronicles, a four-part comic book miniseries.{{cite web|url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=2168 |title=Snake Strikes Early! 'John Carpenter's Snake Plissken Chronicles' #1 Hits The Streets One Month Early! |website=Comic Book Resources |date=May 22, 2003 |access-date=June 30, 2010}} The story takes place a day or so after the events of Escape from New York. Snake has been given a military Humvee after his presidential pardon and makes his way to Atlantic City. Although the director's cut of Escape from New York shows Snake was caught after a bank job, this story has Snake finishing up a second heist that was planned before his capture. The job entails stealing the car in which John F. Kennedy was assassinated from a casino before delivering it to a buyer in the Gulf of Mexico. Snake partners with a man named Marrs who ends up double-crossing him. Left for dead in a sinking crab cage, Snake escapes and is saved by a passing fisherman named Captain Ron (an in-joke referring to Kurt Russell's 1992 comedy, Captain Ron). When Ron denies Snake's request to use his boat to beat Marrs to the robbery, Snake decides to kill him. When Snake ends up saving Ron from the Russian mob, who wants money, Ron changes his mind and helps Snake. Once at the casino, Snake comes face-to-face with Marrs and his men, who arrive at the same time, ending in a high-speed shootout. Snake gets away with the car and its actress portraying Jackie Kennedy, leaving Marrs to be caught by the casino owner, who cuts him a deal to bring his car back and live. After some trouble, Snake manages to finally get the car to the buyer's yacht, using Ron's boat, and is then attacked by Marrs. Following the firefight, the yacht and car are destroyed, Marrs and Captain Ron are dead, and Snake makes his escape in a helicopter with the 30 million credits owed to him for the job. The series was written by William O'Neill and penciled by Tone Rodriguez with Jan Utstein as editor.

In 2014, BOOM! Studios began publishing an Escape from New York comic book by writer, Christopher Sebela.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbr.com/sdcc-sebela-attempts-an-escape-from-new-york-at-boom/|title=SDCC: Sebela Attempts an "Escape From New York" at BOOM!|date=July 26, 2014|website=CBR}} The first issue of the series was released on December 3, 2014,{{cite web|url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3323200/comic-book-review-escape-new-york-1-sequel-deserve/|title=[Comic Book Review] "Escape From New York" #1 Is The Sequel We Deserve|first=Zac|last=Thompson|date=December 3, 2014}} and the story picks up moments after the end of the film.

BOOM! released a crossover comics miniseries between Snake and Jack Burton titled Big Trouble in Little China/Escape from New York in October 2016.{{cite web|url=http://www.newsarama.com/30118-totally-awesome-hulk-writer-takes-on-totally-craaazy-big-trouble-in-little-china-escape-from-new-york-crossover.html|title=Two Iconic Cult Characters That Look Exactly Alike Cross Over in BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA / ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK|publisher=Newsrama|last=Arrant|first=Chris|date=July 13, 2016 |access-date=August 22, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160717133511/http://www.newsarama.com/30118-totally-awesome-hulk-writer-takes-on-totally-craaazy-big-trouble-in-little-china-escape-from-new-york-crossover.html |archive-date=July 17, 2016 |url-status=dead}}

An Escape from New York board game was released in 1981 by TSR, Inc.{{cite web|work=BoardGameGeek|title=Escape from New York|url=http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/731/escape-from-new-york}} Another board game was crowd-funded in 2022.{{citation |url=https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/escape-from-new-york/news/escape-from-new-york-board-game-announced |work=Dicebreaker |title=Escape from New York is getting a board game from Descent: Journeys in the Dark creator |author=Matt Jarvis |date=28 March 2022}}

In 2003, Carpenter was planning an anime spin-off of Escape from New York, with Outlaw Star{{'}}s Mitsuru Hongo slated to direct.{{cite news|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2003-02-11/production-ig-working-on-escape-from-new-york-anime |title=Production IG working on Escape from New York Anime |date=February 11, 2003 |website=Anime News Network |access-date=August 23, 2014}}

A video game adaptation was in development in 2004–2005.{{Cite web|url=https://screencrush.com/escape-from-new-york-game/|title=Check Out the 'Escape From New York' Video Game That Never Was|first=Jacob|last=Hall|date=October 3, 2013|website=ScreenCrush}}

A 2015 ruling by the French Tribunal de Paris found that the French film Lockout (2012) had plagiarized both Escape from New York and its sequel Escape from L.A. John Carpenter was awarded €20,000,{{cite news|title=French filmmaker Besson guilty of plagiarising action classic|url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/french-filmmaker-besson-guilty-plagiarising-action-classic-141823009.html|access-date=29 July 2016|work=AFP|date=29 July 2016}} with co-writer Nick Castle getting €10,000, and €50,000 given to rights holder StudioCanal.{{cite web |last=Jagernauth |first=Kevin |date=15 October 2015 |title=John Carpenter Wins Plagiarism Case Against Luc Besson Over 'Lockout' |url=http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/john-carpenter-wins-plagiarism-case-against-luc-besson-over-lockout-20151015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018120805/http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/john-carpenter-wins-plagiarism-case-against-luc-besson-over-lockout-20151015 |archive-date=18 October 2015 |access-date=16 October 2015}}{{cite web|author=Nick Vivarelli |url=https://variety.com/2016/film/global/john-carpenter-plagiarism-case-luc-besson-lockout-1201826597/ |title=Luc Besson Must Pay More Damages in 'Lockout' Plagiarism Case |website=Variety |date=2016-07-29 |access-date=2016-10-16}} Lockout's writer and producer Luc Besson appealed the ruling, which was rejected in July 2016. The claimant's total damages were increased to €450,000.

{{Reflist}}

• John Walsh (December 14, 2021). Escape from New York: The Official Story of the Film. Titan Books.

{{wikiquote}}

• {{IMDb title|82340}}
• {{TCMDb title|4549}}
• {{mojo title|escapefromnewyork}}
• [https://theofficialjohncarpenter.com/escape-from-new-york/ Escape from New York at John Carpenter's official website]

{{Escape from New York}}

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