Escape From New York (1981)/Escape From L.A. (1996) – 15 years

John Carpenter’s 1981 hit classic, Escape From New York, is one of the more influential films in modern pop culture. A big reason for that is its iconic hero, Snake Plissken, who is thrown into a dystopian 1997 New York City. However, the same can’t be said of its sequel, which came 15 years later. Escape From L.A. was a result of Kurt Russell’s desire to create a sequel for his favorite character, but it had been stuck in development for 10 years until it finally got off the ground, and the end product wasn’t exactly what fans were anticipating.