Escape Room 2: Tournament of Champions ends with a fairly clever twist, but unfortunately, said twist presents a major franchise problem going forward. The first Escape Room became a sleeper hit in 2019, overcoming mediocre reviews by critics to become a hit with audiences, earning $155 million on a $9 million budget. After several COVID-19-related delays, Escape Room 2 finally hit theaters, and while the sequel might not have been the financial powerhouse the first movie was, its makers clearly intend to bring the world an Escape Room 3 based on the Escape Room 2 ending.
After another movie full of Zoey (Taylor Russell) and Ben (Logan Miller) staying alive despite trap after trap constructed by the Minos company, the Escape Room 2 ending twist reveals that everything in the sequel up to that point had been done to convince Zoey that Minos had been caught, and get her and Ben into the plane escape room that was constructed at the end of the original. The twist, while feeling a bit cheap, is pretty well pulled off. The problem is, it makes Minos entirely too powerful, to the point where anyone ever beating them seems ludicrous.
What Happens In The Escape Room 2 Ending
The Finale Takes A Surprisingly Uplifting Turn
The ending of The Escape Room: Tournament Of Champions was filled with twists and turns, and it significantly altered the direction the franchise could potentially take. After the movie made many references to a girl named Sonya, it's revealed that Sonya is the daughter of Amanda, from the original Escape Room movie. The sequel retcons the ending of the first film to reveal that Amanda survived, and has been designing escape rooms for Minos ever since.
The sinister activities of Minos ar revealed to the world, and it seems the company will be brought to justice.
Amanda then shows up, and begins working with Zoey to help her and Ben escape. After the pair manage to free Ben from his cage (which had been filling with water), they then contact the FBI. In a turn of events that felt surprisingly uplifting for a sequel to Escape Room, the authorities manage to retrieve the bodies of Theo, Brianna, Rachel and Nathan.
The sinister activities of Minos ar revealed to the world, and it seems the company will be brought to justice. There is then a final tacked-on moment when Zoey, on a plane home with Ben, is caught up in a last-minute Minos escape room.
Why Escape Room 2's Ending Twist Is A Franchise Problem
The Levels Of Control Minos Have Over Outcomes Isn't Plausible
To facilitate the Escape Room 2 ending twist, Minos proves itself capable of doing everything but manipulating reality itself, and with its vast resources, it can even nearly do that. By the end of the highly anticipated horror film, it's clear that even the psychiatrist Zoey and Ben visited about their prior experiences was in Minos' pocket.
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Picking up from there, from the moment they enter New York City and visit the Minos building, they're manipulated and pushed into position for the next game by Minos. Even the events within the game, which ostensibly should be harder for Minos to predict, end up with Zoey escaping through an alternate route they clearly intended her to find, and Ben getting sucked into the quicksand, enabling Minos to use him as a bargaining chip with Zoey.
Even the events within the game, which ostensibly should be harder for Minos to predict, end up with Zoey escaping through an alternate route they clearly intended her to find
According to the surprise returning character in Escape Room 2, Amanda (Deborah Ann Woll), who it turns out survived the first film due to yet more Minos manipulation tactics. This entire game was put together to convince Zoey to become a game designer for the company herself, assuming anything Zoey was told during the game can be trusted.
If that's true though, that means Minos casually orchestrated that a bunch of former "winners" would end up on the same subway train at the same time, and without anyone else on it, just to play a game for the purposes of deceiving Zoey and Ben and getting the duo into the coming plane trap. That is a level of control over outcomes that would leave most movie villains in awe. At this point, Zoey and Ben's battle doesn't feel winnable. In fact, it feels hopeless, not only for Escape Room 2 but for Escape Room 3 as well.
Escape Room 2 Has An Extended Cut That Changes The Ending
The Addition Of Isabelle Fuhrman's Character Fixes Many Issues
Escape Room 2's Minos is probably far too powerful in the regular ending, but the movie also has an extended cut that adjusts this issue. Instead of placing the focus on the plane twist, the alternate version of Escape Room 2 heavily features Claire (Orphan's Isabelle Fuhrman), the true mastermind behind the games who killed her parents after they tried to take credit for her creations.
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Not only does the Escape Room 2 alternate ending reduce the near-supernatural omnipotence of Minos effectively by making the movie more about Claire, but it also very directly sets up the antagonist for Escape Room 3. If the franchise wants a shot at continuing past Escape Room 2, this compelling new antagonist is a great way to do so.
What We Know About Escape Room 3
Despite Being Teased In 2021, A Sequel To Tournament Of Champions Hasn't Happened
The ending of Escape Room: Tournament Of Champions — and especially the alternate extended cut — seemed to strongly hint that Escape Room 3 would arrive to turn the duology into a trilogy. The core premise of Escape Room clearly has franchise potential, and like the Saw movies, only really seems limited by how many different traps filmmakers can dream up. However, despite Escape Room 2 arriving several years ago and making over $65 million at the box office on a budget of only $15 million (via Box Office Mojo), Escape Room 3 still hasn't arrived.
Director Adam Robitel did hint in 2021 that Escape Room 3 was a possibility. Speaking to Nightmarish Conjurings, Robitel suggested that the only thing holding back a potential sequel was the budget and audience interest:
" 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 ."
However, this was several years ago, and there's been no solid news on Escape Room 3 since. Adam Robitel (who also appeared as Gabe in the first Escape Room) hasn't directed any movies since, either. This may actually be good news for Escape Room 3 though, as it means he's not distracted by other projects. It seems that the fate of a sequel to Escape Room: Tournament of Champions rests on the wishes of Columbia and Sony Pictures, the studio and distributors behind the franchise.
Which Escape Room 2 Ending Is Better?
The Preference Depends On What The Viewer Wants From The Villain
The two endings basically create two different movies since the plot twists and turns to change everything about the games, the traps, and the entire reasoning behind them. In the main theatrical cut, there is nothing about Minos that anyone can touch, which makes the company even more terrifying. However, the alternate cut brings in Claire and her father, which gives a face to battle or stop, completely changing the movie's dynamic depending on what a person wants out of the horror.
A Reddit thread was created to discuss the two endings, and the OP felt there was something to like in both versions. They wrote, "The alternate cut provides way more backstory to Minos, moves the plot forward by setting up a clear villain for a third potential film and tease Zoey/Ben v Claire. However the theatrical cut is way more suspenseful and less convoluted which is why I think the studio decided to run with it."
However, another person preferred the alternate version, thanks to the idea of putting a face to the villain. Therapistincrisis wrote, "I prefer so much the alternate version. I hate Amanda being brought back because she was a great character with a closed arc. And Claire being the one projecting the room's makes so much more sense than an ex soldier. Also gives a great villain too." Both Escape Room 2 endings have positive points; it just depends on whether a person wants a villain with a face or an unknown entity.
The sequel to the 2019 horror-thriller film Escape Room: Tournament of Champions returns to the world of deadly Escape Rooms with the two prior survivors, Zoey Davis and Ben Miller. Having discovered that they were just participants in a game of the darkly satirical shadow organization that observes the games for fun, Zoey and Ben decide to put a stop to their twisted designs. However, while en route to confront their foes, they quickly realize they've entered yet another game with even higher stakes.
Director Adam Robitel
Release Date July 16, 2021
Cast Taylor Russell , Isabelle Fuhrman
Runtime 88minutes
English (US) ·