'Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials' tops Johnny Depp's 'Black Mass'
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
The young adult book adaptation 鈥淢aze Runner: The Scorch Trials鈥� took first place at the domestic box office this past weekend, while 鈥淏lack Mass,鈥� which stars actor Johnny Depp as criminal James 鈥淲hitey鈥� Bulger, placed second.
鈥淢aze鈥� is based on the book of the same name by author James Dashner and is a sequel to the 2014 film 鈥淭he Maze Runner.鈥� The first movie in the series performed well at this same time last year.聽
Now 鈥淪corch鈥� has grossed more than $30 million in its opening weekend. That鈥檚 a little less than the first movie made in its opening weekend, with 鈥淭he Maze Runner鈥� having taken in more than $32 million domestically, but not a huge decrease.聽
Meanwhile, 鈥淢ass鈥� grossed more than $23 million to come in second place at the domestic box office this weekend. The movie has a strong supporting cast, with turns by actors including Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Peter Sarsgaard, and moviegoers were no doubt curious to see the performance by Depp, which received rave reviews from many critics. The performance of 鈥淢ass鈥� compares favorably to the opening of Depp鈥檚 last film, 鈥淢ortdecai,鈥� a misfire that took in only about $4 million in its debut weekend.聽
M. Night Shyamalan鈥檚 horror movie 鈥淭he Visit,鈥� which was a holdover from the week before, took third place with more than $11 million and the thriller 鈥淭he Perfect Guy,鈥� also in its second week, grossed more than $9 million. The new movie 鈥淓verest,鈥� which opened this weekend on various IMAX and other large-format theaters and will open in other locations next weekend, came in fifth with more than $7 million.
The success of 鈥淢aze Runner: The Scorch Trials鈥� may represent a new role for young adult dystopian franchises: slow and steady performer. Compared to the opening weekend gross of more than $121 million for 鈥淭he Hunger Games: Mockingjay 鈥� Part 1,鈥� 鈥淪corch鈥� is a small-time success.
It鈥檚 a closer comparison to the performance of the newest 鈥淒ivergent鈥� film, 鈥淚nsurgent,鈥� which opened with a domestic gross of more than $52 million. The movie 鈥淭he 5th Wave,鈥� which is also based on a young adult dystopian novel, opens this January and could perform similarly. Books like 鈥淭he Maze Runner鈥� and 鈥淭he 5th Wave鈥� were bestsellers but had nothing like the pop culture dominance of 鈥淗unger.鈥澛�
In addition, it will be interesting to see whether 鈥淢aze Runner: The Scorch Trials鈥� continues to draw in what one would assume to be its target audience: young moviegoers. Dark premises for these dystopian tales are nothing new 鈥� the whole premise of the 鈥淗unger Games鈥� movies is that young children are forced to battle to the death 鈥� but some critics were taken aback by the intensity of some of the plot developments in 鈥淪corch.鈥� One wrote that the movie has 鈥渟everal surprisingly brutal moments鈥� and noted that some of the teens in the film are the subject of 鈥渉einous experiments.鈥�
A third movie in the 鈥淢aze鈥� series is already planned 鈥� 鈥淢aze Runner: The Death Cure鈥� is set to be released in February 2017.
