“Death Wish” spawned four increasingly terrible sequels from 1982 to 1994, each starring Bronson. By the ’90s, though, no one appeared to care for conservative-leaning revenge fantasies anymore. However, interest in the franchise was revived in the mid-2000s, with none other than Sylvester Stallone making plans to play Paul Kersey in a new “Death Wish” movie.
20th Century Studios
There were actually two competing “Death Wish” films in the works in 2006. Stallone’s announcement of a “Death Wish” remake came around the same time that director James Wan began working on “Death Sentence,” a movie that was based on Garfield’s 1975 novel of the same name, which was itself a sequel to his “Death Wish” book. The story goes that Garfield didn’t like Winner’s film and wrote “Death Sentence” as a rebuke of it. Wan, meanwhile, preferred Garfield’s sequel novel to the cheesy “Death Wish” movie sequels (which were put out by the notoriously schlocky Cannon Group) and decided to make “Death Sentence” (a film that does indeed have its defenders). The movie starred Kevin Bacon in the Paul Kersey role, only his name was now Nick Hume.
In the middle of all that, it was announced that Stallone would star in a “Death Wish” remake. The following year, Stallone told Ain’t It Cool News the film was a go, with the actor-filmmaker planning to both star in and direct it as his follow-up to the success of “Rocky Balboa.” Stallone like the idea of a reluctant vigilante, torn between his need to be humane and his tendencies toward violent wrath. This was something he played well in 1982’s “First Blood.” He also had a new angle on Paul Kersey, which he described to AICN as follows:
“Instead of the Charles Bronson character being an architect; my version would have him as a very good cop who had incredible success without ever using his gun. So, when the attack on his family happens, he’s really thrown into a moral dilemma in proceeding to carry out his revenge.”
It’s a slightly different story, but one that could have fit well in the “Death Wish” mold.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
It seems, however, that Stallone’s involvement in the “Death Wish” remake was short-lived. AICN thereafter reported that the news of Stallone remaking “Death Wish” sparked a minor outcry from fans, and he quickly dropped the film. He also cited “creative differences” with the studio and was happy to move on to other projects. Instead, he brought back his John Rambo character in 2008 with “Rambo,” a film that was a pretty notable hit.
In the meantime, the remake of “Death Wish” remained in development hell. After “Rambo,” Stallone once again expressed his interest in the project, though nothing ultimately came from it. Eventually, in 2012, the remake was revived, this time with Joe Carnahan writing and directing and Liam Neeson set to star. However, that iteration fell through as well due to, once again, “creative differences.” It would take another six years for the “Death Wish” remake to become a real thing, with Eli Roth ultimately directing and Bruce Willis starring as Paul Kersey. In this version, however, the character was a trauma surgeon from Chicago. Once again, though, Paul begins contemplating blood revenge when his wife and daughter are killed/assaulted.
Roth’s “Death Wish” remake was very poorly received and only sports a 17% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 161 reviews. Its box office performance was equally disappointing, with the film only making $48.6 million on a $30 million budget. We can only imagine that Stallone’s version would have been better, but I suppose we’ll never know. Since 2018, there has been no further talk of bringing Paul Kersey back to the big screen in any way. I think we’re finally over it.