Index: tests/regressiontests/admin_views/tests.py
===================================================================
--- tests/regressiontests/admin_views/tests.py	(revision 16344)
+++ tests/regressiontests/admin_views/tests.py	(working copy)
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@
         response = self.client.post('/test_admin/%s/admin_views/article/add/' % self.urlbit, post_data)
         self.failUnlessEqual(response.status_code, 200)
         self.assertContains(response, 'dismissAddAnotherPopup')
-        self.assertContains(response, 'title with a new\u000Aline')
+        self.assertContains(response, 'title with a new\\x0Aline')
 
     # Post data for edit inline
     inline_post_data = {
Index: tests/regressiontests/defaultfilters/tests.py
===================================================================
--- tests/regressiontests/defaultfilters/tests.py	(revision 16344)
+++ tests/regressiontests/defaultfilters/tests.py	(working copy)
@@ -74,13 +74,13 @@
 
     def test_escapejs(self):
         self.assertEqual(escapejs(u'"double quotes" and \'single quotes\''),
-            u'\\u0022double quotes\\u0022 and \\u0027single quotes\\u0027')
+            u'\\x22double quotes\\x22 and \\x27single quotes\\x27')
         self.assertEqual(escapejs(ur'\ : backslashes, too'),
-            u'\\u005C : backslashes, too')
+            u'\\x5C : backslashes, too')
         self.assertEqual(escapejs(u'and lots of whitespace: \r\n\t\v\f\b'),
-            u'and lots of whitespace: \\u000D\\u000A\\u0009\\u000B\\u000C\\u0008')
+            u'and lots of whitespace: \\x0D\\x0A\\x09\\x0B\\x0C\\x08')
         self.assertEqual(escapejs(ur'<script>and this</script>'),
-            u'\\u003Cscript\\u003Eand this\\u003C/script\\u003E')
+            u'\\x3Cscript\\x3Eand this\\x3C/script\\x3E')
         self.assertEqual(
             escapejs(u'paragraph separator:\u2029and line separator:\u2028'),
             u'paragraph separator:\\u2029and line separator:\\u2028')
Index: tests/regressiontests/templates/filters.py
===================================================================
--- tests/regressiontests/templates/filters.py	(revision 16344)
+++ tests/regressiontests/templates/filters.py	(working copy)
@@ -299,8 +299,8 @@
         'autoescape-stringfilter03': (r'{{ safe|capfirst }}', {'safe': SafeClass()}, 'You &gt; me'),
         'autoescape-stringfilter04': (r'{% autoescape off %}{{ safe|capfirst }}{% endautoescape %}', {'safe': SafeClass()}, 'You &gt; me'),
 
-        'escapejs01': (r'{{ a|escapejs }}', {'a': 'testing\r\njavascript \'string" <b>escaping</b>'}, 'testing\\u000D\\u000Ajavascript \\u0027string\\u0022 \\u003Cb\\u003Eescaping\\u003C/b\\u003E'),
-        'escapejs02': (r'{% autoescape off %}{{ a|escapejs }}{% endautoescape %}', {'a': 'testing\r\njavascript \'string" <b>escaping</b>'}, 'testing\\u000D\\u000Ajavascript \\u0027string\\u0022 \\u003Cb\\u003Eescaping\\u003C/b\\u003E'),
+        'escapejs01': (r'{{ a|escapejs }}', {'a': 'testing\r\njavascript \'string" <b>escaping</b>'}, 'testing\\x0D\\x0Ajavascript \\x27string\\x22 \\x3Cb\\x3Eescaping\\x3C/b\\x3E'),
+        'escapejs02': (r'{% autoescape off %}{{ a|escapejs }}{% endautoescape %}', {'a': 'testing\r\njavascript \'string" <b>escaping</b>'}, 'testing\\x0D\\x0Ajavascript \\x27string\\x22 \\x3Cb\\x3Eescaping\\x3C/b\\x3E'),
 
 
         # length filter.
Index: tests/regressiontests/utils/html.py
===================================================================
--- tests/regressiontests/utils/html.py	(revision 16344)
+++ tests/regressiontests/utils/html.py	(working copy)
@@ -113,10 +113,10 @@
     def test_escapejs(self):
         f = html.escapejs
         items = (
-            (u'"double quotes" and \'single quotes\'', u'\\u0022double quotes\\u0022 and \\u0027single quotes\\u0027'),
-            (ur'\ : backslashes, too', u'\\u005C : backslashes, too'),
-            (u'and lots of whitespace: \r\n\t\v\f\b', u'and lots of whitespace: \\u000D\\u000A\\u0009\\u000B\\u000C\\u0008'),
-            (ur'<script>and this</script>', u'\\u003Cscript\\u003Eand this\\u003C/script\\u003E'),
+            (u'"double quotes" and \'single quotes\'', u'\\x22double quotes\\x22 and \\x27single quotes\\x27'),
+            (ur'\ : backslashes, too', u'\\x5C : backslashes, too'),
+            (u'and lots of whitespace: \r\n\t\v\f\b', u'and lots of whitespace: \\x0D\\x0A\\x09\\x0B\\x0C\\x08'),
+            (ur'<script>and this</script>', u'\\x3Cscript\\x3Eand this\\x3C/script\\x3E'),
             (u'paragraph separator:\u2029and line separator:\u2028', u'paragraph separator:\\u2029and line separator:\\u2028'),
         )
         for value, output in items:
Index: django/utils/html.py
===================================================================
--- django/utils/html.py	(revision 16344)
+++ django/utils/html.py	(working copy)
@@ -34,29 +34,34 @@
     return mark_safe(force_unicode(html).replace('&', '&amp;').replace('<', '&lt;').replace('>', '&gt;').replace('"', '&quot;').replace("'", '&#39;'))
 escape = allow_lazy(escape, unicode)
 
-_base_js_escapes = (
-    ('\\', r'\u005C'),
-    ('\'', r'\u0027'),
-    ('"', r'\u0022'),
-    ('>', r'\u003E'),
-    ('<', r'\u003C'),
-    ('&', r'\u0026'),
-    ('=', r'\u003D'),
-    ('-', r'\u002D'),
-    (';', r'\u003B'),
-    (u'\u2028', r'\u2028'),
-    (u'\u2029', r'\u2029')
-)
+_js_escapes_dict = {
+    '\\': r'\x5C',
+    '\'': r'\x27',
+    '"': r'\x22',
+    '>': r'\x3E',
+    '<': r'\x3C',
+    '&': r'\x26',
+    '=': r'\x3D',
+    '-': r'\x2D',
+    ';': r'\x3B',
+    u'\u2028': r'\u2028',
+    u'\u2029': r'\u2029',
+}
 
-# Escape every ASCII character with a value less than 32.
-_js_escapes = (_base_js_escapes +
-               tuple([('%c' % z, '\\u%04X' % z) for z in range(32)]))
+# also escape every ASCII character with a value less than 32.
+for z in range(32):
+    _js_escapes_dict[chr(z)] = '\\x%02X' % z
 
+# construct a Regex object matching the keys in _js_escapes_dict
+_js_escapes_re = u''.join(sorted(_js_escapes_dict.keys()))
+_js_escapes_re = re.sub(r'[\\\\\-\]]', r'\\\g<0>', _js_escapes_re) # escape \-]
+_js_escapes_re = '[' + _js_escapes_re + ']'
+_js_escapes_re = re.compile(_js_escapes_re)
+
 def escapejs(value):
     """Hex encodes characters for use in JavaScript strings."""
-    for bad, good in _js_escapes:
-        value = mark_safe(force_unicode(value).replace(bad, good))
-    return value
+    return mark_safe(_js_escapes_re.sub(lambda m: _js_escapes_dict[m.group(0)],
+                                        force_unicode(value)))
 escapejs = allow_lazy(escapejs, unicode)
 
 def conditional_escape(html):