Escape Room 2 Has an Extended Cut That’ll Change the Franchise

Leave it to a movie franchise known as Escape Room to make its films a puzzle for followers. On September 21, the second Escape Room movie, subtitled Tournament of Champions, will likely be launched digitally, with two completely different variations. One is the 88 minute theatrical lower and the opposite is a 96 minute prolonged lower which can blow the door vast open on the sequence’ mythology.

According to a description on Movies Anywhere, the longer digital model “includes more than 25 minutes of all new scenes including an alternate beginning and ending revealing for the first time who is behind the Minos Corporation.” That positive sounds just like the franchise’s massive dangerous is being revealed in an prolonged version that’s fully completely different from the one we noticed in theaters.

Let’s again up a second. The first Escape Room was launched in January 2019 and grossed over $150 million worldwide. A second movie was rapidly put within the works and launched in July 2021. Both movies are directed by Adam Robitel (Insidious: The Last Key) and inform the story of a seemingly random group of strangers who discover themselves caught in a lethal sequence of rooms that they need to escape from or die. The survivors of the primary movie then transfer onto the second movie the place they vow to take down the corporate they imagine is behind is all, Minos. However, within the second movie, Tournament of Champions, you don’t actually get any of that—there are many new, cool, elaborate escape rooms, however the film lacks any actual escalation of the franchise mythology with reference to Minos.

At least, that’s the way it went within the theatrical model. An io9 reader who goes by JR first alerted us to followers on-line who have been very confused. Some noticed the movie in theaters, the place its ending [Spoiler Alert] revealed that the entire film was an elaborate lure to get the star, Zoey (Taylor Russell), to face her largest concern, getting on a aircraft. Others, nonetheless, didn’t see any of that. People who have been watching (most likely illegally, we must always observe) the sequel on-line noticed a complete new model which dumped the frilly aircraft storyline in favor of a fair greater one. This ending launched a complete new household who labored at Minos and noticed Zoey go away the sport, after which she meets the daughter of that household who started to unravel a number of the thriller behind the corporate. We received’t spoil what occurs however Reddit threads seem to counsel the present description that’s been added to Wikipedia is correct.

If the runtimes on Movies Anywhere (88 minutes theatrical, 96 minutes extended) are correct, and the brand new, prolonged lower of Escape Room really has 25 minutes of “all new scenes,” the mathematics works out to 17 minutes of the theatrical model being lower. This raises a ton of questions: why have been the adjustments made? Why was one model launched in theaters and the opposite not? Plus, does the existence of 1 model of this movie negate the existence of the opposite? Regarding all of that, a Sony consultant couldn’t remark however did say additional particulars on the house launch of Escape Room: Tournament of Champions would be obtainable quickly and clear all this up.

We do know Robitel has hinted that the theatrical model of the movie wasn’t his final imaginative and prescient. Speaking to the Wrap earlier this yr, he mentioned ‘“My director’s cut was 45 minutes longer. But you get into it with a lot of cooks in the kitchen and they’re like ‘cut, cut, cut, cut, cut.’ So at the end of the day, until I have director’s cut, I’m at the whim of the gentle chainsaw.” Seems just like the sub-90 minutes theatrical lower was extra a studio factor and, hopefully, this prolonged lower is extra the filmmaker’s imaginative and prescient.

Nevertheless, I discover this thriller not simply fascinating, however encouraging. I liked the primary Escape Room and was extremely excited to see the second. However, I assumed the second movie was very irritating, primarily as a result of its primary dramatic throughline was based mostly on a scene that was alleged to have taken place in the course of the first film, however didn’t really exist within the first film. Not to say the ending fully whiffed the chance to escalate and elevate the franchise’s mythology. These 25 new minutes sound like they’re going to vary all that and make Escape Room a bit extra epic than its sequel made it out to be.

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions will likely be launched digitally on September 21 and on bodily discs October 16.

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