Egan Escape’s Jason Egan on returning to the world of IT for his latest immersive experience

Jason, it’s great to catch up. We spoke last year about the opening of your Escape IT: The Sewers experience in Vegas, inspired by IT Chapter One. You’ve followed that up with an experience next door called The Funhouse, based on IT Chapter Two. Both are equally impressive – and terrifying! What aspects of the second movie did you feel it was important to capture here?
The Derry Canal Days Festival was important – it’s gorgeous.

That’s the bit in the film with the fairground? The Funhouse section?
That’s it. And that was one of the toughest conversations… “How do we incorporate that big scene?” I think we did a good job. We built all of the games from the ground up. We couldn’t build an actual spinning room due to accessibility issues, so we recreated that effect with lights. There are 2,000-pixel lights in that tunnel to create that spinning effect.

Amazing.
We also wanted to bring in the, well, we call them corndogs – the clowns that swing side to side. That was iconic to the movie, so we had to have that here. And then there’s the Jade of the Orient.

This is the Chinese restaurant where this experience begins.
Yes, and it’s also how the movie starts. We even have a real fish tank in there. I love both movies, but I prefer Chapter Two… It’s so intense. When I first saw it on the Warner Bros backlot, I knew we had to do this – and Warner Bros has been great to work with.

And why do this as a separate experience?
The films are very different – and they’re in different eras. It felt crucial to make Chapter Two its own thing. It also means fans can come and do both back-to-back if they want to. You can spend two and a half hours with us! When we were testing both experiences, they were running at around 90 minutes each, so we had to make them a little easier! Anything longer than 75 minutes and you’ll need a bathroom break.

I don’t want to give away any surprises, but there are some technical feats going on here. Did any one moment prove to be particularly challenging to execute?
What you saw at the very end – which I don’t want to give away! That particular monstrosity was a huge creative challenge. We even had to raise the roof in that room to accommodate it. So it was challenging, but exciting – and ultimately very rewarding.

“The films are very different – it felt crucial to make Chapter Two its own thing”.

I’d also say making the food look real in the Jade of the Orient section… That said, we have a Jade of the Orient sign out front, and so many people believed it was a real Chinese restaurant. People would come in expecting to eat! That confirmed we nailed it!

Is there any stretch of the experience you’re especially proud of?
We have a section that’s made entirely of mirrors. It’s actually quite a small space, but it plays so big.

That was a great bit! Very disorientating!
Well, we used Plexi mirrors. In that environment – with those scares – you don’t want to use real glass.

I can imagine. Jason, before I let you go, what’s next for you in the world of licensed immersive experiences?
We have the John Wick Experience in construction right now. Lionsgate has been an amazing partner of ours for many years. We started planning it over a year and a half ago. AREA15 is involved; it’s going to be an amazing attraction. It’ll be a combination of a walkthrough attraction, two different bars and a full John Wick retail store. We’re ecstatic. It’ll open by the end of this year.

I love horror but it’s fun to mix it up sometimes. And if you can do horror, you can do anything! We just love bringing brands to life and we’ll have something else opening in 2025… Escape IT is the highest-ranked attraction in Las Vegas. People who’ve seen the movies love it. People who haven’t seen the movies love it. We pinch ourselves.

“We have a Jade of the Orient sign out front and so many people believed it was a real Chinese restaurant!”

And what helps give you ideas for attractions Jason?
I go to a movie every week. This week was Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, last week was The Strangers: Chapter One. Can you imagine an immersive experience based on The Strangers? Instead of you trying to get out, you’ve got to prevent them getting in! That’d be fun… Maybe I should talk to Lionsgate about that one!

Do! And let us know how it goes!
Ha! And sometimes inspiration strikes while jotting things down on a cocktail napkin at a Denny’s restaurant! I’ll sit down without distraction and note down a floor plan. Then my amazing VP of Creative, Ashlee Cordray, takes that and brings it to life. And it’s amazing how close the final attraction sometimes is to that initial napkin sketch. As long as the studios keep producing cool content, we’ll keep creating cool experiences.

Thanks again Jason, always a pleasure.