The posters for 2018 sequel Escape Plan 2: Hades sell it as a Sylvester Stallone and Dave Bautista movie, but this is a straight up lie.
Escape Plan 2: Hades completely lied about the size of Sylvester Stallone and Dave Bautista’s roles – but the sequel still bombed. There was some bemusement when a sequel to Escape Plan was announced. The original paired Stallone with former rival Arnold Schwarzenegger, and while it was an entertaining time waster, it was nobody’s favorite movie of 2013. The film also bombed in America, grossing less than half its production budget. Overseas, however, Escape Plan did shockingly good business.
That’s the primary reason the Escape Plan franchise exists. While Schwarzenegger passed on Escape Plan 2, Stallone is an actor who always appreciated the value of a franchise, having built his name on Rocky or Rambo. The sequel takes a more sci-fi approach, where Stallone’s escape specialist Ray Breslin and his team have to take down a high-tech prison dubbed HADES. This place forces prisoners to fight one another and was designed by the same people who built The Tomb from the first film.
Sylvester Stallone & Dave Bautista Aren’t Really The Stars Of Escape Plan 2: Hades
Escape Plan 2’s poster is quite misleading
Looking at the Escape Plan 2 trailer or any of the posters would lead anyone to think it’s a Sylvester Stallone and Dave Bautista movie; this isn’t really the case. Instead, Escape Plan 2 sees Breslin’s protege Shu (Huang Xiaoming) being kidnapped and imprisoned in HADES, with Breslin’s team racing against the clock to rescue him. Bautista plays a new character called DeRosa, an associate of Breslin who basically acts as his muscle.
In short, Stallone and Bautista aren’t the stars of Escape Plan 2; Huang Xiaoming is. On The Chattering Hour podcast, director Steven C. Miller revealed Stallone shot for three days on Escape Plan 2 and has about 15 minutes of screentime throughout. Bautista himself only signed onto the sequel to work with Stallone and only appears in about ten minutes of the film.
Despite the “creative” marketing, Escape Plan 2 was still a bomb. The sequel failed to recoup its $20 million budget back, and while it went theatrical in certain markets, it was an STV release in America. Hades cast Xiaoming specifically to appeal to the Chinese market, which was a smart choice in some ways; the film made the majority of its money in China (via Box Office Mojo) despite terrible reviews.
Escape Plan 2’s Misleading Casting Is A Standard STV Gimmick
The sequel followed an increasingly annoying STV tactic
It made sense to market Escape Plan 2 on Stallone’s name, especially since he starred in the first entry. That said, the marketing behind it very much makes it look like a buddy movie between Sly and Bautista, which is pretty brazen considering they only share two scenes. This tactic of casting an A-list actor in an STV movie and pretending they’re the leads has become a common tactic with producers in the last couple of decades.
Production company Emmett/Furla Oasis funded the Escape Plan trilogy and is known for paying stars like Nicolas Cage or Bruce Willis – prior to his retirement – lots of money to appear in their STV projects. These films would then be sold on their star power, even though they only appear in supporting roles. Escape Plan 2 pulled the same trick with Stallone and Bautista, whose appearances in the sequel are fairly limited.
Stallone Redeemed Himself With Escape Plan 3
Nobody hated Escape Plan 2 more than Stallone
A third film titled The Extractors: Escape Plan was confirmed shortly after the second movie finished filming. Stallone himself hated Escape Plan 2, taking to social media to state the sequel was “… TRULY THE MOST HORRIBLY PRODUCED FILM I have ever had the misfortune to be in.” Seemingly trying to make up for his involvement with Hades, Stallone took a larger role in Escape Plan 3. His close friend John Herzfeld directed it, and while he’s still not quite the main character, Stallone’s Breslin gets way more action and dialogue in Escape Plan 3.
Escape Plan 3 also gave a bigger role to Bautista’s DeRosa, and features a grittier, more grounded tone than the second entry. The Extractors is a better film overall than its predecessor – and didn’t feel the need to lie about the size of Stallone or Bautista’s parts – but it’s still an inessential action flick. It was shot on a much smaller budget than Hades too, but still failed to make a profit. The sequel at least showed Stallone trying to make amends for the mistakes of Escape Plan 2, but there’s a good reason a fourth film hasn’t happened.