海角大神

The 2014 film 鈥淭he Maze Runner鈥� gets a sequel this month, with 鈥淢aze Runner: The Scorch Trials,鈥� starring Dylan O鈥橞rien and Kaya Scodelario, heading to theaters on Sept. 18.

The 鈥淢aze鈥� movies are based on the young-adult book series of the same name by James Dashner and center on a boy named Thomas who has no memory of his previous life and聽is transported to a glade that is surrounded by a maze. A group of other boys is already in there in the glade and Thomas soon learns that creatures live in the maze that make it impossible to traverse. Soon after Thomas鈥檚 arrival, a girl arrives in the maze for the first time.

The film series also stars Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Patricia Clarkson, and Aiden Gillen.

The first 鈥淢aze鈥� book was released in 2009 and two sequels were published, including 鈥淪corch.鈥� Mr. Dashner also released a prequel, titled 鈥淭he Kill Order,鈥� and the author has said he will publish a second prequel titled 鈥淭he Fever Code鈥� in 2016. Dashner is also the author of the "Mortality Doctrine" series, the third book of which is set to be released this November.

(Spoilers follow for the first film follow鈥�)

Mr. O鈥橞rien said in an that Thomas is in a tough place during the second film. 鈥淗e kind of holds all the responsibility for them getting out [of the maze] and he thought that was the answer,鈥� he said. 鈥淗e believed in it so hard. 聽Now that he鈥檚 gotten these guys out 鈥� all that is weighing on him now that he鈥檚 not so sure that this was actually the better choice. Maybe this wasn鈥檛 the best thing.鈥�

Hollywood has of course had massive hits that were based on young-adult books, most recently the 鈥淗arry Potter鈥� and 鈥淗unger Games鈥� films and, to a lesser extent, the 鈥淒ivergent鈥� films, of which there are two more to come. But as in any genre, there are plenty that don鈥檛 hit, like recent films 鈥淭he Mortal Instruments: City of Bones,鈥� 鈥淓nder鈥檚 Game,鈥� and 鈥淰ampire Academy.鈥�

鈥淭he Maze Runner,鈥� which debuted almost a year ago, did well at the box office 鈥� well enough, obviously, to spawn a sequel. Its gross of more than $102 million domestically looks paltry against the more than $408 million domestic gross of the first 鈥淗unger Games鈥� film, but 鈥淢aze鈥� still did well.

Books like 鈥淢aze鈥� and 鈥淭he 5^th Wave鈥� by Rick Yancey, which is the basis for a film that will be released this January, are popular with their target audience 鈥� 鈥淢aze鈥� is currently number two on the IndieBound children鈥檚 fiction series bestseller list for the week of Sept. 10 and 鈥淲ave鈥� sold well also. But neither of the series were pop-culture sensations like 鈥淗arry Potter鈥� or 鈥淗unger Games鈥� before the films debuted.聽

In the future, unless another Harry or Katniss comes along, studios will most likely hope for solid box office performances like that of 鈥淢aze鈥� when they鈥檙e adapting young-adult franchises and will hope to build their audience as more and more films are released. The model could be an unlikely one: the 鈥淔ast and the Furious鈥� franchise, which now spans seven movies. The studio behind 鈥淔urious,鈥� Universal, has continued to built up a fan base and the newest film, 鈥淔urious 7,鈥� was the series鈥� highest-grossing.

Another example for studios can be "If I Stay," a 2014 young-adult film adaptation. The movie wasn't a massive hit by any means, but it had a low budget and performed fairly well, with its final gross putting it in the company of more high-profile releases of that year like "Muppets Most Wanted" and "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit."