Nobody knows what a ‘requel’ is, but new ‘Escape from New York’ directors confirm that’s what they’re making

Hollywood loves a made-up buzzword when it comes to hyping up a franchise-driven project, especially if there’s a chance it can offset any doubts or concerns the fandom may have. The team behind Scream and Scream VI tackling Escape from New York wasn’t quite greeted with outright rejection, though, but the doubters still need to be won over.

Is it a sequel? A reboot? A remake? A reimagining? A continuation? A reinvention? Well, yes and no. In an interview with ComicBook, Radio Silence filmmakers Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin have gone back to the well that served them so brightly when rehabilitating Ghostface to confirm that their spin on the dystopian tale will be a requel.

“It’s a great question. I don’t think we know enough about the movie yet to be able to say anything, but yes ‘requel’ is the idea. There’s no way to remake how great that movie is, would be a fool’s errand to try. So, you know, we’ll try to borrow what we love from it and find a new way to put the package together.”

Of course, that begs the question as to what exactly a requel is. If you want to dive deep into the nitty gritty of the etymology, then it would appear to be a hybrid of a sequel and a reboot. However, when you think about it, aren’t those two terms diametrically opposed? The directorial duo said the fifth Scream was a “requel,” but seeing as it referenced the entirety of canon and featured a trio of legacy stars, then surely it was really just a sequel.

Does that mean Kurt Russell will be returning as the legendary Snake Plissken? Honestly, we’ve got no idea, but you’d imagine so if GIllett and Bettinelli-Olpin are singing from the Scream playbook, because the next iteration of Escape from New York sounds like it’s going to be a straightforward sequel – unless you buy into the requel branding.