Escape Plan is a 2013 American prison action thriller film starring Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and co-starring Jim Caviezel, 50 Cent, Vinnie Jones, Vincent D'Onofrio and Amy Ryan.^[5] It was directed by Swedish filmmaker Mikael Håfström, and written by Miles Chapman and Jason Keller (under the anagram pen-name 'Arnell Jesko').^[6] The first film to pair up Stallone and Schwarzenegger as co-leads,^[7] it follows Stallone's character Ray Breslin, a lawyer turned prison security tester who is incarcerated in the world's most secret and secure prison, and recruits fellow inmate Emil Rottmayer, portrayed by Schwarzenegger, to stage a breakout. The film is the first installment of the Escape Plan film series.

The film was released in the United States on October 18, 2013, received mixed reviews and grossed $137 million worldwide against a $54 million budget.

Former prosecutor Ray Breslin is the founder and co-owner of Breslin-Clark, a security firm specializing in testing the security measures of supermax prisons. Posing as an inmate to study facilities from within and exploit their weaknesses to escape, Breslin is driven by the murders of his wife and child by an escaped convict he had successfully prosecuted, and has garnered a reputation as the man who can escape any prison.

Breslin and his business partner, Lester Clark, receive a multimillion-dollar deal from CIA operative Jessica Miller to test a new, top secret prison for disappeared persons on the condition that Ray and his team cannot know the prison's true location. Although this violates his principles, Breslin agrees, allowing himself to be captured under the identity of a terrorist-for-hire. The plan goes awry when his captors remove a tracking microchip he had implanted in his arm and drug him, preventing his colleagues from knowing where he has been taken.

Breslin wakes up inside the prison and realizes that the warden, Willard Hobbes, is not the same warden who was supposed to release him in an emergency. He befriends another inmate, Emil Rottmayer, who claims to be a security expert for Victor Mannheim, a faceless Robin Hood-type figure who steals from the wealthy.

Staging an escape attempt, Breslin discovers he is aboard a massive prison ship somewhere in the middle of an ocean. Hobbes reveals to Breslin that he is aware of his true identity and will ensure Breslin spends the rest of his life in the prison. Breslin offers Hobbes information on Mannheim in exchange for his release, to which Hobbes agrees. While Breslin feeds Hobbes false information about Mannheim, his colleagues, Abigail Ross and Hush, grow suspicious of Clark when Breslin's paycheck for the job is frozen. Hush discovers that the prison, codenamed "The Tomb," is owned by a for-profit organization linked to a notorious private security contractor. Clark is also revealed to be in contact with Hobbes about Breslin's imprisonment.

With Javed‘s help, Breslin and Rottmayer deduce they are somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean near Morocco. In a second escape attempt, Breslin kills Drake when he tries to stop them, but Javed is gunned down by Hobbes and his men. A helicopter sent by Mannheim engages in a gunfight with the guards. Rottmayer boards the helicopter while Breslin is flushed to the bottom of the ship. Reaching the helicopter as Hobbes fires at him, Breslin shoots several leaking oil barrels, killing Hobbes in the explosion.

The helicopter lands on a Moroccan beach, where Rottmayer reveals he is actually Mannheim and "Jessica Miller" is in fact his daughter, who actually hired Breslin to mastermind her father's escape. Clark is locked in a shipping container and sent off to an unknown location.

The spec script was initially called The Tomb. When Summit first purchased the script, Jeff Wadlow was attached to direct and Jason Keller was hired to do rewrites.^[8]

Early reports in 2010 speculated that Bruce Willis was cast as Ray Breslin and Antoine Fuqua was attached to direct.^[9][10][11] It was revealed by producer Mark Canton on The Matthew Aaron Show that Jim Caviezel had signed on to the film, playing the prison warden Hobbes.^[12]

British actor Vinnie Jones signed on to co-star as Drake, the ruthless prison guard.^[13]

Variety and other media in the news stated that Amy Ryan, Vincent D'Onofrio, and 50 Cent had joined the cast of Escape Plan.^[14][15] It was confirmed in mid-April that 50 Cent would play the computer expert who was once incarcerated for cyber crimes helping Breslin's character escape, D'Onofrio would play the deputy director of the high-tech prison, and Ryan would play Stallone's business partner and his potential love interest.^[16]

In an interview with the British newspaper The Sun, Vinnie Jones stated that the film was to shoot April 16 to June 23 in New Orleans.^[17] Shooting for Escape Plan was also confirmed to take place in Louisiana in the spring of 2012. In August 2012, at The Expendables 2 conference, Arnold Schwarzenegger commented on the film and stated that filming had finished.^[18] The engine room fight scene between Breslin and Drake was filmed onboard the bulk carrier RICAN, the giveaway is IMO NO 7621932 seen in several scenes.

In February 2017, it was announced that a sequel was then in development with Stallone confirmed to reprise his role as Ray Breslin. In the same report it was revealed that Steven C. Miller would direct the film, with Miles Chapman returning as screenwriter.^[27] Dave Bautista, 50 Cent, and Jaime King were cast in the film.^[28] In March 2017, the official title was announced as Escape Plan 2: Hades. The film was released direct-to-video on June 29, 2018.

In April 2017, a third film entered the early stages of development with Stallone again signed on to reprise his role as Ray Breslin.^[29] The film, Escape Plan: The Extractors,^[30] was released direct-to-video on July 2, 2019.

• List of American films of 2013
• Arnold Schwarzenegger filmography
• Sylvester Stallone filmography
• Lock Up, another Sylvester Stallone movie set in a prison