Butler will play war vet/convict Snake Plissken (a role made famous by Kurt Russell, who had damn well better have at least a cameo) who, despite what you may have heard, is not dead. He’s sent onto the isle of Manhattan, which at some undetermined point in the future (well, Carpenter set it in 1998, which sadly never came to pass) has been turned into a maximum security prison.
With New Line behind it for some reason I feel a little bit better; they seem to have a good grasp on what works and what doesn’t in films, and rarely have I heard stories about them interfering with a production the way some other studios love to do.
Now they just need to find a director…