Death Race 2

Death Race 2
Cover art
Directed byRoel Reiné
Screenplay byTony Giglio
Story by
Based onCharacters
by Paul W. S. Anderson
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJohn McKay
Edited by
  • Radu Ion
  • Herman P. Koerts
Music byPaul Haslinger
Production
companies
  • Universal Pictures Productions GmbH
  • Moonlighting Death Race Films C.C.
Distributed byUniversal Studios Home Entertainment
Release dates
  • December 27, 2010 (2010-12-27) (United Kingdom)
  • January 18, 2011 (2011-01-18) (US and Canada)
Running time
100 minutes
CountriesSouth Africa
Germany
LanguageEnglish
Budget$6–7 million

Death Race 2 is a 2010 action film directed by Roel Reiné and written by Tony Giglio, who co-developed its story with Paul W. S. Anderson. The film, a prequel to Death Race—the 2008 prequel to Death Race 2000 (1975)—stars Luke Goss as Carl "Luke" Lucas, a convicted cop killer who is sentenced to life in a for-profit, maximum security prison, where he is forced to compete in the titular reality show to earn his freedom. Fred Koehler, Tanit Phoenix, Robin Shou, Lauren Cohan, Danny Trejo, Ving Rhames, and Sean Bean appear in supporting roles; Koehler and Shou reprise theirs from Death Race.

Death Race 2 tells the origin story of the franchise's protagonist Frankenstein without the directorial involvement of Anderson, who was retained as producer, or the appearance of Jason Statham. Reiné signed on to direct the project and filming began in Cape Town, South Africa, on February 13, 2010. He directed the 30-day shoot without a second unit, served as his own cinematographer, albeit uncredited, and opted for locations in which he could have a few sets going all at once, to manage the schedule and the $6–7 million budget. Paul Haslinger returned to score the film.

Universal Pictures released the film direct to video through its home entertainment division on January 18, 2011, with a United Kingdom release date of December 27, 2010. Death Race 2 earned $8.4 million in US home video sales as well as generally positive reviewsmany critics received it favorably over the previous film and praised its action scenes and supporting cast. Reiné also directed a direct-to-video sequel, Death Race 3: Inferno (2013).