The critical response to "300" has been divided, but that hasn't stopped moviegoers from turning out to see it en masse -- which means this is a pretty good time for "300" star Gerard Butler to announce his next project. Snake Plissken fans, rejoice: Butler has signed on to do a remake of John Carpenter's 1981 classic, "Escape from New York."

The original, as you very well might recall, takes place in a dystopian future in which crime has become such a problem that the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a maximum-security prison; when the president's plane crashes on the island, he's taken captive by the prisoners, and the one-eyed anti-hero Snake Plikssen -- played with career-defining panache by Kurt Russell -- has 22 hours to rescue him. The film was a hit, so of course it spawned a sequel, 1996's "Escape from L.A.," which no one will remake, ever.

The movie doesn't have a studio attached yet -- it's being shopped by Butler's agents at CAA -- but Neal Moritz is set to produce, and Ken Nolan has agreed to write the screenplay; Russell, presumably, is waiting to hear whether Butler has any interest in putting a fresh coat of paint on his 1992 masterpiece, "Captain Ron."

Source: Variety