Breck Eisner to direct the 'Escape from New York' remake...

...which serves as a reminder that this remake is still happening, for better or worse. Here's the story from The Hollywood Reporter:

Breck Eisner, who directed Overtures' remake of "The Crazies," is in negotiations to helm the remake of "Escape From New York" for New Line.

The remake has been a top priority for the company, which picked up the rights in March 2007, with Gerard Butler attached to star and Ken Nolan writing the script.

The project then veered into development hell, losing Butler but amassing a penal colony of writers, among them Jonathan Mostow and Allan Loeb, and collecting then losing director Len Wiseman. (Neal Moritz has remained producer throughout the process.)

Eisner's boarding should bring "Escape" back on track as New Line, sticking with the Loeb draft, tries to mix an origin story for anti-hero Snake Plissken and merge it with the story of the 1981 original.

hat film was set in a futuristic 1997, when Manhattan had been turned into a giant maximum-security prison. The U.S. president's plane crashed on the island, and Plissken -- incarcerated for robbing a federal reserve bank -- was coerced into a rescue mission.

Walter Hamada and Sam Brown are overseeing for New Line.

While Eisner's version of "Crazies" didn't exactly take the movie world by storm -- it grossed $38.5 million domestically -- it was well-received by horror fans and critics, earning a 71% rating on Rottentomatoes. The high praise caught observers by surprise as horror aficionados are usually quick to toss away remakes of beloved horror titles, while critics tend to dismiss the genre outright.

Eisner, repped by CAA, also directed 2005's "Sahara."

-He's not an untalented director, so this could have potential...thoughts?