Robert Rodriguez in talks to direct Escape From New York reboot

Robert Rodriguez is looking to double down on dystopia with 20th Century Fox.

The director of the upcoming manga adaptation Alita: Battle Angel is in negotiations to reteam with the studio on a reboot of Escape From New York, EW has confirmed.

Released in 1981, John Carpenter's original Escape starred Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken, a cynical soldier-turned-outlaw called upon to rescue the president from a futuristic version of Manhattan that's been converted to a maximum-security prison. The film became a cult classic and spawned a 1996 sequel, Escape From L.A.

Plot details for the remake are being kept under wraps, but Fox has been developing the property since 2015, with an eye toward launching a new franchise. Luther creator Neil Cross penned the script, and Carpenter is on board as an executive producer.

Rodriguez is something of a Carpenter disciple as a genre-savvy jack-of-all-trades who's been known to write, direct, and even score his own movies. His previous credits include Sin City, Planet Terror, From Dusk Till Dawn, and Desperado.

The Tracking Board first reported the news.