'The Grey' Director Handed the 'Death Wish' Remake

Joe Carnahan's slow rise through the ranks of elite Hollywood directors was given a shot in the arm with The Grey starring Liam Neeson (see our review here), which opened last Friday.  While I was a little disappointed with the film overall, it still had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.  Apparently, MGM and Paramount were impressed enough with the results to hand Carnahan the keys to write and direct their long delayed Death Wish remake of the 1974 Charles Bronson action flick. 

Back in '07, Sly Stallone had his eyes on the remake, but luckily for our sake that never came to fruition.  Jules Daly (The Grey, A-Team) will produce this story of an NYC man who goes all vigilante and begins killing would be thugs after his wife is killed, with the brothers Scott (Ridley and Tony).

Carnahan should have little trouble churning out a gritty, thrilling script for this film, as he wrote both The Grey and Narc (2002) that were chalked full of violent, murderous, yet likable good guys and street thugs put in inexplicably bad situations.  It will be interesting to see how Death Wish develops under his perspective.   I have high hopes myself.

While Carnahan is a fine choice of filmmaker to create this remake, the box office success may ultimately come down to who headlines it.  Any ideas?  Liam Neeson?  Jason Statham?  I'd love to see this go to someone who isn't your typical action star.