Escape Room hits local theaters

Escape games —physical adventure games that see a group of people locked up in a room who then have to solve a series of brain-teasing puzzles to escape — are popular among urban youngsters. However, a new horror film will perhaps dampen their enthusiasm for the claustrophobic pastime.

Escape Room, the first Hollywood horror feature to be imported to Chinese mainland screens this year, was released to domestic theaters on Jan 18.

With Adam Robitel at the helm and produced by Neal Moritz, known for the Fast and Furious franchise, the film is about six strangers who travel to a mysterious venue to play an escape room in bid to win a large cash prize. Inevitably, it turns out to be a trap and the players have to try every means to escape or die.

On its debut day, the film knocked down Chinese hit The Big Shots to become the second highest-grossing film on Friday. The first slot is still secured by Bumblebee, the sixth installment of the live-action Transformers franchise, which has become the most successful film in January, raking in 840 million yuan ($124 million).

Zhang Qiuting contributed to the story.