20th Century Fox's upcoming "Escape from New York" remake looks to have genre veteran Robert Rodriguez ("Sin City") on board as director, as reported Friday by Deadline.. It was announced back in 2015 that Fox had won the bidding war for the remake, with news that "Luther" creator Neil Cross had been brought on board to pen the film for the studio coming shortly thereafter.

It's said that Fox hopes to potentially kick-start a "Planet Of The Apes"-like franchise -- as that Fox franchise has proven to be both a critical darling, as well as solid at the box office -- with the "Escape from New York" remake.

The film, which currently does not have a release date, is a remake of the 1981 classic directed by John Carpenter. The original starred Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken and took place in a dystopian near-future 1997 Manhattan, which had been transformed into a giant maximum security prison. When the President of the United States's plane crashes into the Manhattan, Russell's Snake Plissken is called in to rescue him.

A 1996 sequel, "Escape from L.A.," saw Russell return as Plissken to recover a doomsday device for the government. Whether or not Fox intends to use the sequel to help build their potential franchise remains to be seen.

Prior to Fox winning the rights to the film, StudioCanal, which sold the rights to the studio, was working on their own reboot as recently as 2013. Unfortunately, those plans, which saw actors such as Timothy Olyphant and Charlie Hunnam rumored for the role of Plissken, ultimately faltered and Fox ended up securing the rights to the remake.

Fox will keep the original's creator, John Carpenter, involved with the project, giving him an Executive Producer credit on the film, and reportedly consulting with him on the movie's tone.

Rodriguez is coming off of "Alita: Battle Angel," another Fox film and an adaptation of Yukito Kishiro's "Battle Angel Alita" manga, which stars up-and-comer Rosa Salazar is scheduled for release on July 20, 2018.