'Death Wish' Remake Gets Eli Roth, Bruce Willis

Back in 1974, the original Death Wish film was a surprise hit. A low-budget exploitation film with wooden performances, a thin plot and a shameless reliance on violent scenes, the movie nonetheless tapped into 70s angst over high crime rates and economic problems. Now a reboot is in the works, and the project will feature the work of a star and a director whose pedigrees seem tailor-made to relaunch the franchise.

This week, Eli Roth signed on to direct the remake which, its studio hopes, will launch a new franchise the same way that the original did back in the 70s. Roth made his mark with the Hostel franchise and recently helmed the cannibal thriller The Green Inferno, so he's no stranger to the exploitation-movie genre. He hasn't found much commercial success since Hostel, but Death Wish could pull him toward the mainstream.

Bruce Willis was already signed on to star in the Death Wish remake. The one-time action star reached the peak of his success in the Die Hard franchise, in which he played a lone man taking on the forces of evil, much like Charles Bronson did in the original Death Wish. Willis' star has fallen since the days of Die Hard, but Death Wish could put him back in familiar, and potentially financially successful, territory.

The project does not yet have a release date.