Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Maze, Mass dominate box office
LOS ANGELES — Maze
Runner: The Scorch Trials ignited the weekend box office with an estimated $30.3 million domestic debut, while the Johnny Depp gangster film
Black Mass opened with some heat of its own.
Based on the best-selling young adult books by James Dashner, The Maze Runner series follows Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) as he is deposited into a community of young men in a post- apocalyptic world. The sequel, which cost about $61 million to make, takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles.
Like other young- adult book adaptations, such as the Hunger Games and the Divergent series, Scorch Trials attracted mostly younger moviegoers. An estimated 63 percent of the opening weekend audience for the sequel was younger than 25. Female moviegoers made up about 53 percent of the audience.
The sequel also performed well overseas, where it made $43.3 million in 66 markets over the weekend. To date, the film has made $108.3 million globally. This weekend,
the film will expand to seven more markets.
Warner Bros.’ Black Mass surpassed tracking expectations. The film, which follows the rise of South Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, is based on the nonfiction book 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.
Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Bulger as well as performances from co-stars Joel Edgerton and Benedict Cumberbatch helped the film garner positive word of mouth ahead of the release. Moviegoers gave it a B on CinemaScore. The majority of moviegoers for opening weekend were male (56 percent) and older than 25 (89 percent).
Universal’s The Visit added about $11.6 million, enough for third place in its second weekend. The low- budget horror film from director M. Night Shyamalan is about two kids whose visit to their grandparents doesn’t go exactly as planned. To date, it has made $42.6 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters. The suspense thriller The
Perfect Guy brought in about $ 9.8 million, dropping 62
percent in its second weekend and dropping from first to fourth place. The Columbia Screen Gems film, which stars Sanaa Lathan and Michael Ealy, has made about $41.5 million domestically to date.
Everest, released by Universal Pictures, rounded out the top five, collecting an impressive $7.2 million in just 545 Imax 3-D and premium large-format 3-D theaters in North America.
The epic adventure film stars Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly, Sam Worthington, Keira Knightley, Emily Watson and Jake Gyllenhaal. An estimated 55 percent of the audience for opening weekend was 35 and older, and 54 percent was male.
The film collected $28.2 million in 36 international territories, bringing its early worldwide total to $35.8 million.
In limited release, Lionsgate’s drug war thriller Sicario grossed $390,000 on six screens in the United States. The solid per screen average of $65,000 is the best of any film thus far in 2015. The film will expand to about 50 theaters this weekend.