Adam Robitel’s Escape Room was a hit for Sony back in 2019, making $155 million worldwide on a mere $9 million production budget. It seemed Sony had a new “Saw-lite” horror franchise on their hands with this one, but that was before the pandemic forced the delay of sequel Escape Room: Tournament of Champions from April 2020 all the way to July 2021.
Unfortunately, it looks like the endless delays may have ended up hurting Escape Room‘s franchise potential, as Tournament of Champions came in third place at the box office over the weekend, making $8.8 million domestically in 2,815 locations for a worldwide total of $13.3 million thus far. The film’s budget was higher than the first one, reportedly around $15 million.
Back in 2019, the first Escape Room made $18.2 million in its opening weekend at the domestic box office, more than double the sequel’s opening weekend gross here in the States. Escape Room went on to make $57 million domestically, with a $155 million worldwide total.
“Tournament of Champions (read Meagan’s review) is the sequel to the box office hit psychological thriller that terrified audiences around the world. In this installment, six people unwittingly find themselves locked in another series of escape rooms, slowly uncovering what they have in common to survive…and discovering they’ve all played the game before.”
Taylor Russell and Logan Miller are back from Robitel’s first Escape Room, starring in the new movie alongside Indya Moore, Holland Roden, Thomas Cocquerel, and Carlito Olivero.
The sequel’s script was written by Will Honley and Oren Uziel and Maria Melnik & Daniel Tuch.