WI: Earlier 'Escape From New York' sequel?

[Romantic Nihilist]

In '81, Escape From New York was released which pretty much reinvented Kurt Russell and provided John Carpenter with another hit. But, for some reason or another, it took fifteen years for a sequel (Escape From L.A.).

Kurt Russell went on to do The Thing and Tango and Cash amongst others while occasionally working with John Carpenter.

So, the WI proposed, what would it take for an earlier (in the 80's at least) sequel to Escape For New York? And how would this affect both actor and director?


One last thing... there was meant to be a third Escape... film which was probably aborted due to how late the sequel took to be made.

 

[Mike Stearns]

One last thing... there was meant to be a third Escape... film which was probably aborted due to how late the sequel took to be made.

Escape from LA not being a piece of shit would also help.

 

[viewcode]

Michael Ma

In '81, Escape From New York was released which pretty much reinvented Kurt Russell and provided John Carpenter with another hit. But, for some reason or another, it took fifteen years for a sequel (Escape From L.A.).

Kurt Russell went on to do The Thing and Tango and Cash amongst others while occasionally working with John Carpenter.

So, the WI proposed, what would it take for an earlier (in the 80's at least) sequel to Escape For New York? And how would this affect both actor and director?

Hmmm. Carpenter was good when he was making low-budget films, but bad when he was given more money. The Thing did not do well, but Big Trouble In Little China really messed him up: it lost a lot of money and he was back to low budget for quite a while thereafter. Whilst not a disaster for me (I *like* Prince of Darkness and They Live!), it wasn't great for him.

So. We butterfly away BTILC: butterflies eat the script or something. Carpenter sticks to low-budget and it works quite well. He and Debra Hill still want to develop EFNY into a franchise and so does Russell, but Carpenter is enjoying his low-budget artistic freedom and doesn't want the hassle of directing. So they cast around and find a well-regarded director with a keen visual style, good integration of music and directing, and a track record for taciturn professional loners who thrive under stress: Michael Mann. Mann has left Miami Vice to work on his labor-of-love Crime Story, but those pesky butterflies have eaten that as well as the script for Manhunter. Mann comes on board as director, Hill/Carpenter stay as producers and in 1988, "Escape from Los Angeles" is released. It is gorgeous as are all Mann films and it does quite well: not bad but not boffo at the box office. A success d'estime, it is well regarded even now.

 

[jack_donaghy_is_the_shado]

So. We butterfly away BTILC: butterflies eat the script or something. Carpenter sticks to low-budget and it works quite well. He and Debra Hill still want to develop EFNY into a franchise and so does Russell, but Carpenter is enjoying his low-budget artistic freedom and doesn't want the hassle of directing. So they cast around and find a well-regarded director with a keen visual style, good integration of music and directing, and a track record for taciturn professional loners who thrive under stress: Michael Mann. Mann has left Miami Vice to work on his labor-of-love Crime Story, but those pesky butterflies have eaten that as well as the script for Manhunter. Mann comes on board as director, Hill/Carpenter stay as producers and in 1988, "Escape from Los Angeles" is released. It is gorgeous as are all Mann films and it does quite well: not bad but not boffo at the box office. A success d'estime, it is well regarded even now.

How could you butterfly Big Trouble in Little China?! I'm sure there's something else you could do.

Idk if this would work, but maybe Carpenter could take the helm of the proposed Godzilla 3D movie or something else?

Edit: Carpenter and Kurt Russell have both said that poor marketing doomed BTILC, so perhaps Fox could do better advertising and the film at least breaks even? It really is an awesome movie, one of the favorites from my childhood

 

[Kalvan]

Edit: Carpenter and Kurt Russell have both said that poor marketing doomed BTILC, so perhaps Fox could do better advertising and the film at least breaks even? It really is an awesome movie, one of the favorites from my childhood

I loved it too. It was basically one half of the inspiration for Mortal Kombat. (The other half was Enter the Dragon.)

 

[viewcode]

How could you butterfly Big Trouble in Little China?! I'm sure there's something else you could do.

Blow it up? Stamp on it really hard? (Sorry, I *really* don't like the film... )

Edit: Carpenter and Kurt Russell have both said that poor marketing doomed BTILC, so perhaps Fox could do better advertising and the film at least breaks even? It really is an awesome movie, one of the favorites from my childhood

BTILC didn't die because it wasn't advertised: it died because its genre (comedy kung-fu?) had few fans and nobody wanted to see it. Some genres are very difficult to make very successful (horror, for example, is very difficult to make hugely successful worldwide) and BTILC fell into that trap at that time. I adore Carpenter but his genre pieces have a natural ceiling in terms of grossing: Halloween was incredibly successful....for an independent horror movie. As soon as he starts mixing with the studio system, he trips up.

 

[Romantic Nihilist]

If an earlier sequel to EFNY is successful then we may not get 'Escape From Earth'. Rather, that idea would be delayed.