Press > Escape From L.A. > Details
AKA: John Carpenter's Escape From L.A.
Year: 1996
Runtime: 101 min
Country: USA
Language: English
MPAA Rating: R
Filming Dates:
December 11, 1995 - March 20, 1996
Copyright Holder:
Paramount Pictures 1996
Summary:
In the year 2000, a massive earthquake devastates southern California and Los Angeles is torn from the mainland and isolated as an island. A right-wing President uses the island of L.A. as a dumping ground for those who don't meet up to the high moral standards he has imposed on the country. Thirteen years later, terrorist Cuervo Jones brainwashes the President's daughter, Utopia, and has her steal a secret super-weapon. With Jones and Utopia hiding out in L.A., Snake Plissken is again forced back into action to get the weapon back.
Taglines:
Snake Is Back
Plan Your Escape
The man with the patch has escaped N.Y., try L.A. in the apocalypse
Poster Tags:
Snake is Back
Plan Your Escape
Technical Specifications:
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Color: Color
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Camera: Panavision Cameras and Lenses
Laboratory: DeLuxe, Hollywood [CA], USA [dailies and prints]
Film Length: 2829 m
Negative Format: 35 mm [Eastman EXR 100T 5248, EXR 200T 5293, EXR 500T 5296]
Cinematographic Process: Panavision [anamorphic]
Printed Film Format: 35 mm
Business Data:
Budget: $50,000,000
Opening Weekend: $8,912,557 [USA] [August 11, 1996] [2312 Screens]
Gross:
USA: $25,477,365 [November 17, 1996]
UK: £842,883 [October 20, 1996]
Australia: AUD 1,107,658 [October 31, 1996]
Japan: ¥131,401,000 [December 08, 1996]
Hong Kong: 1,296,735 [1996]
Italy: ITL 2,441,603,000 [1996]
Release Dates:
Canada: August 09, 1996
USA: August 09, 1996 [Premiere: August 07, 1996]
France: September 06, 1996 [Deauville Film Festival]
Colombia: September 05, 1996
UK: September 20, 1996
Ireland: September 20, 1996
Iceland: September 24, 1996
Australia: October 10, 1996
Hong Kong: October 10, 1996
Argentina: October 17, 1996
Spain: October 24, 1996
South Africa: October 25, 1996
Germany: October 31, 1996
Portugal: November 01, 1996
Netherlands: November 07, 1996
Belgium: November 13, 1996
France: November 13, 1996
Switzerland: November 15, 1996 [French speaking region]
Switzerland: November 15, 1996 [German speaking region]
Czech Republic: November 21, 1996
Japan: November 23, 1996
Greece: November 26, 1996
Mexico: November 29, 1996
Poland: November 29, 1996
Italy: December 09, 1996 [Noir in Festival]
Turkey: December 13, 1996
Uruguay: December 25, 1996
Italy: January 10, 1997
Switzerland: January 17, 1997 [Italian speaking region]
Norway: April 23, 1997 [Video Premiere]
Sweden: April, 1997 [Video Premiere]
Hungary: July 29, 1997 [Video Premiere]
Awards and Nominations:
1997, Production Design - Fantasy: Lawrence G. Paull [Fennecus Award]
1997, Best Costumes: Robin Michel Bush [Saturn Award] [Nominated]
1997, Best Science Fiction Film [Saturn Award] [Nominated]
Alternate Titles:
Argentina: Fuga de Los Angeles
Austria: Flucht aus L.A.
Australia: Escape From L.A.
Brazil: Fuga de Los Angeles
Bulgaria: Бягство от Ел Ей [Bulgarian]
Canada: Escape From L.A. [English]
Canada: Los Angeles 2013 [French]
China: 逃出洛杉机
Croatia: Bijeg Iz Los Anglesea
Czech Republic: Útek z L.A.
Denmark: Flugtaktion Los Angeles
Ecuador: Escape From L.A.
Finland: Pako L.A:sta
France: Los Angeles 2013
Germany: Flucht aus L.A.
Greece: Απόδραση από το Λος Άντζελες
Hungary: Menekülés Los Angelesből
Israel: Ha-Briha M'Los Angeles [Hebrew Title]
Italy: Fuga da Los Angeles
Japan: エスケープ・フロム
Korea: LA에서 탈출
Lithuania: Pabegimas iš Los Andželo
Macedonia: Бегство од L.A.
Malta: Escape mill L.A.
Mexico: Escape de Los Angeles
Netherlands: Escape From L.A.
Norway: Escape From L.A.
Peru: Escape de Los Angeles
Poland: Ucieczka z Los Angeles
Portugal: Fuga de Los Angeles
Romania: Evadare din Los Angeles
Russia: побег из Лос-Анджелеса
Serbia: Bekstvo iz Los Andjelesa
Slovakia: Útek z L.A.
Slovenia: Pobeg iz Los Angelesa
South Africa: Escape From L.A. [English]
Spain: 2013: Rescate en L.A.
Sweden: Flykten från L.A.
Taiwan: 洛杉磯大逃亡
Thailand:
Turkey: Los Angeles'tan Kaçis
Ukraine: втечу з Лос-Анджелеса
United Kingdom: Escape From L.A.
Uruguay: Escape de Los Ángeles
Venezuela: Escape de Los Angeles
Vietnam: Thoát khỏi Los Angeles
Yugoslavia: Bekstvo iz L.A.
Goofs:
Factual error: The President's [Cliff Robertson] daughter Utopia's [A.J. Langer] plane is referred to as "Air Force Three." The actual call sign for an aircraft carrying the First Family [without the President] is "Executive One Foxtrot."
Character error: When Brazen [Michelle Forbes] showed the hologram of Utopia hijacking the plane; Brazen said 1140 hundred hours [military time for 11:40 AM], when you look out the windows, it is night time.
Factual error: A gun cannot simply be converted to fire blanks by swapping out a magazine of live rounds with one loaded with blanks; the gun will not cycle. It would require a military blank adapter [which would be very noticeable to Plissken [Kurt Russell] or extensive modifications to the internal mechanisms that would make firing live rounds destroy the gun. Also, firing blanks from an unplugged barrel at such close range is still dangerous, and would cause serious harm or even death to his intended victims.
Factual error: The submarine should not disappear off the monitoring screens just because it fell back into the water.
Revealing mistake: In several scenes with Plissken the face of the stuntman is visible. When he climbs up a ledge of a building after the rest of the structure crashed down. And when he rides a motorcycle on the back wheel.
Continuity: Plissken's countdown timer shows six hours 59 minutes. Then he is told he has seven and a half hours left.
Continuity: Taslima's [Valeria Golino] breast tattoo disappears and then reappears.
Revealing mistake: When Plissken is held captive by the Surgeon General of Beverly Hills [Bruce Campbell] and Taslima is explaining what their captors are, there is an extra with an extremely slack jaw. You can see the actors real lower teeth and lips through the prosthetic mouth.
Factual error: No matter what the technology, an electromagnetic pulse will not damage a battery, as is claimed in the film.
Factual error: When the "contestant" before Plissken fails to score and is shot, the locations of the shooters and the direction of their shots guarantee that several of the shooters would end up shooting each other, and they did not.
Continuity: When Plissken is attempting his fifth shot at the basket, the automatic timer shows three seconds twice.
Continuity: During the fight after the basketball game, Cuervo Jones [George Corraface] drops the black box twice.
Continuity: The size of the dot that Map of the Stars Eddie [Steve Buscemi] paints on the disk changes.
Continuity: In the final fight scene between Plissken and Cuervo Jones, Cuervo's knife disappears occasionally from the ground.
Continuity: Near the end of the movie when Plissken is escaping in the helicopter Cuervo Jones' bazooka is empty. You can see through barrel. Then four seconds later the bazooka fires.
Revealing mistake: Plissken's hologram casts a shadow on the grass.
References:
Duke Nukem 64 [1996] [Video Game]
Duke Nukem says: "I guess he didn't escape from L.A." on level 3 AKA Death Row when he finds the mutilated body of Snake Plissken.
Columbo: A Trace of Murder [1997] [TV Episode]
Calendar shown.
Melrose Place: Escape From L.A. [1997] [TV Episode]
Title reference.
Pussyman's Escape From L.A. [1997] [Video]
Title reference.
Ellen: Escape From L.A. [1998] [TV Episode]
Title reference.
Schizophreniac: The Whore Mangler [1999] [Video]
Poster shown on wall.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Emperor's New Cloak [1999] [TV Episode]
Snake Plissken's coreburner is shown in the background on a Ferengi starship.
Deus Ex [2000] [Video Game]
JC Denton destroys the technology to trigger a new Dark Age in a similar way to Snake Plissken in one of the possible endings of the game.
Grim & Evil [2001-2007] [TV Series]
Hoss Delgado is inspired by Ash from Evil Dead and Snake Plissken and his look is taken from this movie.
Assembling the League [2003] [Video]
Director Stephen Norrington is seen wearing an Escape From L.A. crew t-shirt on the set of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Two Guns [2005]
Poster shown on wall.
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy [2006] [Video Game]
Hoss Delgado is inspired by Ash from Evil Dead and Snake Plissken and his look is taken from this movie.
Be Kind Rewind [2008]
VHS shown.
Game Boys [2008]
Poster shown on wall.
Duke Nukem Forever [2011]
A boy's father says: "I thought he'd be taller." in the beginning of the game when boy asks for Duke Nukem's autograph. This could be a reference to the running gag in the movie.
Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector [2013]
VHS shown.
Bob's Burgers: Adventures in Chinchilla-sitting [2015] [TV Episode]
Trivia answer.
BoJack Horseman: Escape From L.A. [2015] [TV Episode]
Title reference.
Face Off: Troll Bridge [2015] [TV Episode]
Mentioned.
Traceroute [2016]
Mentioned.
Fast & Furious Spy Racers: Escape From L.A. [2020] [TV Episode]
Title reference.