Escape Room is a psychological thriller about six strangers who find themselves in circumstances beyond their control and must use their wits to find the clues or die. (Sony/Columbia)
The first weekend of January is usually a time of year when studios decide to bury their crap. That honor in 2018 goes to 'Escape Room'. However, Sony and Columbia Pictures seem to have a mild hit on their hands. The film opened to more than $18 million on a budget of just $9 million. So a sequel is likely - maybe even for this time next year (if a director can turn around a script that quickly). Being the only new release of the weekend, 'Escape Room' was able to capture the high school and college kids crowd.
Lights Camera Jackson (a.k.a. Jackson Murphy) began his career as a film critic in 2006 at the age of 7. To date, Jackson has written nearly 1,000 reviews of new releases and, in total, has seen more than 1,500 films. In 2010, Jackson became the youngest person to win a NY Emmy Award, for his on-air movie reviews on Time Warner TV station, Capital News 9. And in 2011, Jackson was inducted into the Broadcast Film Critics Association as their youngest member. The BFCA’s annual Critics Choice Awards is one of the industry’s most recognized and prestigious awards shows. The 2019 three-hour ceremony featuring Hollywood's biggest stars of film and television airs LIVE on Sunday January 13th at 7pmET on The CW. Jackson is also a member of SAG-AFTRA and votes annually for the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Currently, Jackson's reviews are posted on his website, YouTube channel and Cultjer.com. He is also a contributor to AnimationScoop.com, run by animation historian Jerry Beck. And Jackson hosts the weekly internet pop culture news show “LCJ LIVE”, along with “The LCJ Q&A Podcast”, on which he interviews celebrities and filmmakers.