The first Escape Room movie was hugely successful, while its sequel Escape Room: Tournament of Champion was also a sizeable hit – so, will there be an Escape Room 3?
The Escape Room movies have given audiences exactly what that titles suggests – a series of escape rooms, but with a violent and deadly twist.
Escape Room 2 is currently topping the Netflix charts in the UK, meaning there’s renewed interest in the franchise.
But the film was released back in 2021, meaning it’s been a while, so is there any chance of Escape Room 3 now happening? Let’s look at the evidence.
Will there be an Escape Room 3?
While promoting Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, director Adam Robitel told Nightmarish Conjurings: “We’ll see. I always say, let’s see if there’s a desire for it. It all comes down to bucks as they say.”
That was before the film came out, and when the box office receipts were counted, the movie made considerably less than its predecessor.
Escape Room grossed $156 million from a $9 million budget. While Tournament of Champions made $67 million from a $15 million budget.
That’s a big differential. But Escape Room 2 nevertheless made more than four times its budget, which – even if you factor in prints and advertising – is still a sizeable profit. So by Robitel’s logic, Escape Room 3 should be happening.
But there’s been no word on a threequel since, while Robitel is now busy developing horror series The Cursed. So Escape Room 3 is unlikely, but, success on Netflix can result in the resuscitation of a franchise, so you never know.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
What could happen in an Escape Room sequel?
Escape Room 3 would feature lots of Escape Rooms, obviously. But Tournament of Champions ended on a cliffhanger, so that would also doubtless form some part or any potential storyline. And most probably kick things off.
Warning: Escape Room 2 spoilers ahead…
Tournament of Champions ends with protagonists Zoey and Ben boarding a plane home. But guess what? It’s another trick!
The evil corporation behind the escape rooms – Minos – addresses them as the plane goes down, saying: “Tell us Zoey – did we do a good job convincing you? The game only ends when we say it ends. Thanks for flying Minos Air.”
So any sequel would address this incident, with Zoey and Ben either finding a way to stop the plane from crashing, or alternatively coming up with a solution to the extremely elaborate escape room, before taking on the might of Minos. But as it stands, we may never discover how this plays out.
Robitel told UNILAD: “There’s been a lot of talk about an origin story for the villain, and we certainly had some ideas, and some stuff that we’ve spit around. I think what we’ve found is we wanna keep it mysterious right now, know what I mean? Even if Sir Anthony Hopkins came out at the end of the movie and was like, ‘I’m Minos’, it just wouldn’t be as frightening.
“There are ideas. I would love to do an origin story of the Puzzlemaker and do a whole movie telling that story, because whoever designs these rooms really cares about the death rooms, they’re really specific about the wallpaper, the tiles. Whoever the Puzzlemaker is, they really love Zoe the way Hannibal Lecter loves Clarice Starling, it’s a little toy to play with.”
Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is currently streaming on Netflix in the UK, while for more horror coverage, head here.
