Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Sahara helmer and former Disney CEO offspring Breck Eisner is in negotiations with New Line Cinema to direct the remake of John Carpenter’s low-budget Escape From New York.

Generally speaking, I abhor remakes, and the veritable plethora of them lately is enough to make me wonder why I bother going to the movies anymore when I can just raid my movie library and see the same flicks. However, there have been some good remakes both past (The Fly) and recent past (3:10 to Yuma) and the bottom line of any movie is… if it’s good, it’s good.

That being said, if this remake is going forward anyway, I’m thrilled that Eisner is taking the lead. Sahara is one of the best and most under-appreciated action movies of the last decade, and his recent horror effort The Crazies proves he knows his way around a remake. So with his involvement, I’m cautiously optimistic.

This will invariably stir wild casting rumors that have zero basis in reality, as well as obligatory speculation as to who should don the famous muscle shirt and David Lee Roth skintight pants. I don’t personally have a favorite at this point. Honestly, it was so hard to imagine Kurt Russell in this kind of role to begin with that the character could be played by just about anybody.