Sony Pictures Entertainment has released new stills and information about their sequel to 2019's sleeper hit horror film Escape Room. At one point slated for release next January, Escape Room 2 was pushed up to July 2021, giving horror fans a summer movie to look forward to.
Upon its release in January 2019, Escape Room grossed $57 million in the domestic theatrical market on a small budget of $9 million. The film benefited from general interest in escape room games as an attraction as well as comparisons to the Saw franchise. Escape Room had a very similar story to that of the Saw films, where a group of less than virtuous people are forced to play games with life-or-death stakes inside of claustrophobic locations.
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In addition to releasing the new photos, Sony has told CinemaBlend that the sequel will be titled Escape Room: Tournament of Champions. The stills promise a story very similar to the first film, where a group of people must solve puzzles to escape dangerous rooms. The images provide a first look at the survivors themselves as well as the rooms they'll be fighting to escape. One image shows a subway car with an electric volt while another image shows a cage that is slowly filling up with water.
The images also confirm that Zoey (Taylor Russell) and Ben (Logan Miller) are returning from the previous film--but they're not the only ones in the escape rooms, as three other players (played by Indya Moore, Holland Roden, and Thomas Cocquerel respectively) are competing alongside them.
In the story, it's confirmed that many different games have been staged around the world by the company Minos, and the other players in Zoe and Ben's game have also played the game before. Escape Room director Adam Robitel also returned to the director's chair for the sequel. Of course, the Escape Room films are hardly Robitel's first foray into the horror genre, as he previously helmed Insidious: The Last Key and co-wrote Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension.
Horror movie sequels can be hit or miss, but judging from the stills, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions looks to offer an inventive and imaginative thriller to fans of the genre. After the buzzworthy release of Spiral: From The Book of Saw and the upcoming release of A Quiet Place: Part II, this sequel might face an uphill battle if it hopes to stand out from the crowd--but it certainly looks more than capable.
Escape Room: Tournament of Champions releases in theaters on July 16th, 2021.
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Source: CinemaBlend