‘Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’ Torches The Box Office
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials ran away with the box office this weekend pulling in an estimated $30.3 million in domestic sales it’s opening weekend. The Maze Runner sequel, which stars Dylan O’Brien, finished just under $2 million shy of meeting the opening weekend box office success of its predecessor, and is being heralded as a success by parent company fox’s head of distribution Chris Aronson, according to Saba Hamedy of the L.A. Times.
“We’re in great shape. Any time you interpret a book to a visual medium, it’s going to be subject to interpretation of filmmakers. I think our filmmakers, led by Wes Ball, did a tremendous job, especially with diverse casting.”
The film, based on a post-apocalyptic dystopian science fiction trilogy of young adult novels by James Dashner, made an additional $43.3 million in 66 overseas markets to bring its global opening weekend box office total to $108.3 million.
As Brad Brevit from Box Office Mojo reports, Black Mass exceeded expectations earning $23.36 million in its opening weekend landing it at No. 2 at the box office. Black Mass, which stars Johnny Depp as infamous Irish-American mobster Whitey Bulger and leader of Boston’s Winter Hill Gang. The film is based on the true life crime novel Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob by former Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill.
Universal, which has already had a tremendous 2015 box office year with Furious 7, Jurassic World, Straight Outta Compton, Minions, and the Michael Fassbender led Steve Jobs on the way, added to their good fortune with the limited IMAX and large screen exclusive release of Everest a week ahead of its nationwide release. Showing in only 545 domestic screens, Everest earned $7.5 million at the box office, which landed it at the No. 5 spot, in addition to $28.2 million internationally. Everest stars Jason Clarke and Josh Brolin in an epic 3-D disaster drama/adventure film that follows a guide and his group along the treacherous climb up Mt. Everest.
Rounding out the box office top five were found footage comedy/horror film The Visit at No. 3, which saw Indian-American writer/director M. Night Shyamalan also serve as Executive Producer, earning $11.35 million in its second week, and The Perfect Man, a thriller directed by David M. Rosenthal starring Sanaa Lathan, Michael Ealy, and Morris Chestnut in a fatal attraction scenario, coming in at No. 4 at the box office with $9.64 million in its second week of release.
[Photo Image: Fox]
