He’s now in low, grumbly talks with Lionsgate and Summit to star in The Last Witch Hunter which is a movie Breck Eisner is directing about some guy who either kills the remainder of Earth’s witches or is killed by them. I’m more interested to know if he’ll be surfing on any flying broomsticks while yelling something like, “Hocus pocus THIS!” Because of course he will. (The Wrap)

Despite having interest from both Gerard Butler and Jeremy Renner (who has about as full of a slate as any actor could have), New Line and Warner Bros decided to let their option lapse, relegating Snake to New York City for the foreseeable future. Perhaps it was the fact that their attached director, Breck Eisner, last laid his hands on the lamentable The Crazies, which perhaps didn’t give too much hope to breathing new life into source material that didn’t see the widespread clamoring that many other reboots promise.

Somewhere, an eyepatch propmaster in North Hollywood picks up the phone to tell his kids that there might not be a Christmas this year. (Deadline)

Cory Goodman, who effectively pitched the kung fu holy man actioner Priest somehow, sold the story to Summit Entertainment with Timur Bekmambetov attached. However, Bekmambetov is too busy slaying vampires dressed in powdered wigs to rise to the task. Enter Eisner, who is not afraid of alienating the witch and warlock portion of his fan base.

Story centers around one of the last remaining witch hunters who must stop witches and warlocks from getting freaky deaky and repopulating. I don’t envy that job. C-blocking a warlock has got to be one of the most dangerous jobs there is. Plus, 1099 work is a paperwork nightmare. (Deadline)

"Whatsa matter, Eisner? You too good to wear all denim?"

File this under “Ugh.” McG and Breck Eisner are actually battling it out over who GETS to direct the big screen adaptation of Ouija. That’s right. They’re both willingly going out for the project. And they haven’t been the only directors knocking down the studio doors. Both Sylvain White and Pierre Morel have tried to get their hands on the all-telling planchette. It led them straight to NO.

Let’s remember, Oujia won’t be a horror movie like an intelligent person would assume, but instead a big action-adventure flick not unlike Jumanji. Would McG or Eisner be a better choice for this kind of project? I say give the job to Eisner. I enjoyedThe Crazies and he has some experience directing action, even though it was doing Sahara. Also, he’s not McG. (THR)

Like Tim Burton and Jon Favreau before him, it looks like Breck Eisner may have found his muse. The Escape From New York remaker is eager to re-team with his Crazies lead, Timothy Olyphant, and have him slip into Snake Plissken’s iconic eye patch. Which was originally worn and sweated on by Kurt Russell in John Carpenter‘s film.

Olyphant excels at kicking people’s asses (usually while wearing a cowboy hat) on-screen, but I don’t know if he’s quite right for Snake Plissken. Plus, that eye patch probably smells really gamey by now. Keep in mind, this is merely Eisner’s dream casting. Certainly not a done deal, as he himself pointed out to MovieHole:

Creatively, he would be great for it. We have not yet discussed internally within the studio who will play Snake Plissken. There are many factors that go into those discussions. First and foremost, obviously, is the creative one. We can’t make the movie unless we get the perfect Snake Plissken, and that’s a tall order. There are very few guys that could do it. He would definitely be one of the guys who could. There is no question about that.

Really? There have been no talks as to who will take the lead in the studio’s blockbuster action movie? Yeah, right. Let’s just poke out Gerard Butler‘s eye and get it over with.

Those who have always wished they could see Snake Plissken run around with the burnt-out facades of ruined Starbucks locations behind him have cause to celebrate. It’s been announced that Breck Eisner is in talks to pull the let’s-get-out-of-this-joint action-thriller Escape from New York, out of development hell.

Breck Eisner, who directed Overtures’ remake of "The Crazies," is in negotiations to helm the remake of "Escape From New York" for New Line.

The remake has been a top priority for the company, which picked up the rights in March 2007, with Gerard Butler attached to star and Ken Nolan writing the script.

The project then veered into development hell, losing Butler but amassing a penal colony of writers, among them Jonathan Mostow and Allan Loeb, and collecting then losing director Len Wiseman.

Eisner’s boarding should bring "Escape" back on track as New Line, sticking with the Loeb draft, tries to mix an origin story for anti-hero Snake Plissken and merge it with the story of the 1981 original.

No word yet on when the Rock will resign himself to star with a brooding sigh. "Yeah, sure. Pass me that eye-patch."  But expect that news soon. (THR)