Moviefone Editorial

Tag: maze-runner-the-scorch-trials

  • ‘Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’ Actors Reveal Training Regimen

    The stars of “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trails” throw vanity to the wind.

    Sweaty, exhausted and shaky, the actors find themselves on the run In the second installment of author James Dashner’s young adult fiction dystopian thriller, where a group of teens attempt to establish a functioning society after they’re transported into an intricate maze.

    To make the action look convincing, the actors were put through the paces.

    “When you see us in the movie running up those sand dunes and running up that desert—that’s us, that’s not CGI, that’s not stunt people,” Dexter Darden tells Made in Hollywood. “Through the training and through our director he kind of wanted that real vibe, of us struggling and tired. So he would allow us to do all the stunts and that really helped out.”

    “Two weeks before production we would train with a stunt team,” Ki Hong Lee explains. “They had us doing parkour, they had us doing laps, runs, sprints—all in sand.”

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  • ‘Maze Runner’ Sequel Tops Johnny Depp’s ‘Black Mass’

    Jacob Lofland, Alex Flores and Dylan O'Brien in "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials"
    Jacob Lofland, Alex Flores and Dylan O’Brien in “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials”

    “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” found its way to the top of the box office, collecting $30 million to finish ahead of the Johnny Depp mob drama “Black Mass,” according to weekend estimates.

     

    The sequel to last year’s post-apocalyptic kids-in-peril tale “Maze Runner” likely will fall short of the $32.5 million the first movie generated but still scored a respectable haul for a youth-centered film opening in September after school started.

    “Black Mass,” based on the real story of Boston mobster Whitey Bulger, attracted rave reviews and heralded the comeback of Depp after several lackluster films, picking up a solid $23 million for second place.

    “Johnny Depp always swings for the fences, and sometimes he strikes out, but this was a grand slam,” Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. distribution executive vice president, tells Variety. “He’s the face of evil.”

    “The Perfect Guy” and “The Visit” were neck-and-neck for third place in their second week with about $10 million each, while “Everest” notched a surprise fifth-place finish on 3D IMAX and Premium Large Format screens with $7 million.

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  • Box Office: Did Moviegoers Get Lost on the Way to ‘Maze Runner’?

    This was supposed to be the big fall kickoff weekend at the multiplex. There was the sequel in a successful young-adult fantasy/sci-fi franchise and an A-lister starring in the first major Oscar hopeful of the season.

    But two surprising things happened: “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” opened with $30.3 million, less than its predecessor, and Johnny Depp‘s “Black Mass” did slightly better than expected — despite a “B” CinemaScore from audiences.

    Was everyone too busy watching football this weekend, or arguing in coffee shops about Thursday’s Republican presidential debate, or planning the last blowout barbecue before autumn officially arrives this week? Or was it just that, despite the hype, the studios by and large failed to make a compelling case for why people should come back to the theaters this weekend?

    Jake Gyllenhaal‘s “Everest” premiered in fifth place with an estimated $7.6 million, but that’s actually pretty good for a limited release that opened only on fewer than 550 screens and only in IMAX. Similarly, “Captive” opened down in tenth place with just an estimated $1.4 million, but that’s still decent for Christian-themed drama in wide release.

    Many experts expected all these movies to do a lot better. That they were disappointed may speak as much to faulty punditry — which has been giving wildly off-the-mark predictions for months now — as it does to audience apathy. Still, there are some lessons here regarding why these movies didn’t do better.

    Reviews Matter More to Younger Viewers Than You Think

    And that may have been “Scorch Trials’” big problem. Critics didn’t think much of the second installment, judging by a 49 percent fresh score at Rotten Tomatoes. Those weak reviews are not a knee-jerk response to the genre, since critics have been fairly kind to the “Hunger Games” movies, as well as the first “Maze Runner” last fall. So even though young viewers supposedly don’t pay attention to reviews, they didn’t seem to ignore them this time. Conversely…
    Word-of-mouth May Matter More to Older viewers Than You Think

    “Black Mass” actually got strong-ish reviews (76 percent fresh at Rotten Tomatoes), with many critics expressing admiration for Johnny Depp’s performance as real-life Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger, seeing it as a return to form after a number of flops. Normally, that would have been enough to persuade the older ticketbuyers who come out for Oscar-hopeful movies in the fall, and who still take reviews seriously.

    But viewers didn’t like the movie as much as critics did, giving it a so-so B grade (Anecdotal chatter suggests that some viewers were put off by Depp’s old-age make-up and his effort at a Boston accent.) By the way, “Scorch Trials” got a slightly higher B+ grade, but that word-of-mouth wasn’t enough to keep it from premiering with about $2 million less than last year’s initial installment.

    Do Religious Movies Have a Saturation Point?

    If so, then apparently three such films in the multiplex at once is one too many. Maybe that’s why “Captive” hasn’t been the hit that “War Room” has (in its fourth weekend, “War Room” was still earning an estimated $6.3 million, good for sixth place and a total of $49.1 million to date) or even that “90 Minutes in Heaven” has (it’s No. 12 this weekend, with an estimated $1.0 million and a two-week total of $3.7 million).

    Pundits were expecting “Captive” to open at $3 to $7 million — it has two fairly recognizable stars (David Oyelowo and Kate Mara), it has a plot centering on a true story based on Rick Warren’s spiritual bestseller “The Purpose-Driven Life,” and Paramount marketed it by staging “Purpose”-themed screenings for church groups. Then again, “90 Minutes” also has two fairly recognizable stars (Kate Bosworth and Hayden Christensen) and still hasn’t done as well as “War Room,” which doesn’t have any. Either the Christian moviegoing audience isn’t big enough (or free-spending enough) to support three such movies at once, or else it will only support those movies it finds most compelling, star power or no star power.

    People Will Come See Spectacle, if It’s Well-Executed
    That seems to be the case with “Everest,” the true story of the 1996 Himalayan mountaineering disaster. The movie, which had a successful limited release this weekend, features a cast that includes Gyllenhaal, Keira Knightley, Robin Wright, Josh Brolin, and Jason Clarke. But it’s the awe-inspiring visuals, rather than the acting, that have been the focus of buzz surrounding the film.

    No wonder Universal chose to release it at first only on 545 screens, all of them IMAX and large format 3D. The result, thanks to smart marketing and the surcharges, was a $13,872 average per screen, nearly twice what “Scorch Trials” and “Black Mass” averaged. No doubt the word-of-mouth from those awed viewers will help sell the movie when it opens wide next week on standard screens.

    It’s a clever strategy, one pioneered successfully by “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” in 2011. And we’ll be seeing more of it soon, when TriStar debuts aerialist spectacle “The Walk” on specialty formats at the end of September, before expanding wide a week later. It’s a nice reminder that people can still be lured away from their living rooms and smartphone screens to see something novel that they can only experience in a theater.

  • What the Critics Make of ‘Maze Runner’

    What the Critics Make of ‘Maze Runner’

    The thought of being trapped in a never-ending maze is dreadful and tiring – and according to critics, so is the latest installment of Wes Ball’s dystopian sci-fi, “Maze Runner.”

    “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” takes main character Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) on a hunt to the desolate area of Scorch, to find clues about a powerful organization. Rotten Tomatoes gives the action-adventure film a 48 percent rating, and reviewers unanimously agree there was not a lot of thought put into the plot.

    “‘Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’ is larger than its predecessor, last year’s ‘The Maze Runner,’ in every way: in its cast, scope, set pieces and (unfortunately) length. But ‘more’ also means more convoluted. The mythology in these dystopian young adult novels-turned-films can be dense at times, but ‘Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’ crams in more lore, supporting characters, backstories and motivations to the extent that it becomes difficult to get a grasp on anything.” — Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com

    “‘The Scorch Trials’ is merely an overly action-packed sequel so generically executed that its characters muster all the personality of jack rabbits on the loose … O’Brien, the star of TV’s ‘Teen Wolf,’ projects the proper amount of stoic leadership as Thomas, but there’s not much personal chemistry between him and [Kaya] Scodelario’s Teresa. For that matter, none of these characters receives enough screen time to develop relationships with us or each other.” — Dann Gire, DailyHerald.com

    Plot aside, some critics at least give the actors an A for effort.

    “Around the film’s midpoint, along comes exactly what and who is needed: an actor who can chew it up without slowing it down. All hail Giancarlo Esposito as Jorge, leader of the Cranks. Later, when warring factions take to the hills, Barry Pepper and Lili Taylor pop up as revolutionaries, simultaneously wild-eyed and sympathetic. Adapted by T.S. Nowlin, the material may be cardboard, but the actors do what they can.” — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

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  • ‘Maze Runner’ Stars: We Play Super Kids, Not Superheroes

    Teens trapped in an elaborate labyrinth have to band together to survive in “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials.”

    So it is good then that they have their wits—because they have nothing else.

    “These kids aren’t superheroes,” actress Kaya Scodelario tells Made in Hollywood.
    “They’re not ninjas — they’re just guys that are in this situation.”

    Her costar Dylan O’Brien adds, “Yeah, it lines up with the theme of the book.”

    In the second installment of author James Dashner’s young adult fiction dystopian thriller, O’Brien as 16-year-old Thomas mysteriously finds himself transported into an intricate maze where he encounters a group of teenagers establish a functioning society while trying to escape their surroundings.

    “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” opens Friday.

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  • The New ‘Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’ Trailer Asks, ‘Whose Side Are You On?’

    A new trailer for “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” takes viewers deeper into the mysterious, desolate world of the Scorch, a desert-like wasteland beyond the Glade that’s teeming with its own challenges. Was it worth risking everything to escape in the first place?

    That’s the question on the minds of Thomas (Dylan O’Brien), Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), and the rest of their teenage crew, as they go head-to-head with the shady WCKD organization, and its murky plans for them. Janson (Aiden Gillen) tries to persuade Thomas and co. that they’re making a mistake in venturing outside the Glade, but it seems like it’s all just a bunch of mind games designed to keep them in their place.

    Or is it? As we see in the trailer, the Scorch appears to be every bit as grim as foretold, and there’s danger lurking around seemingly every corner. The Gladers team up with a band of resistance fighters to take down WCKD, but it doesn’t come without great personal cost.

    “Who’s side are you on?” Janson asks Thomas at one point in the clip. The division between the two camps may not be so black and white after all.

    “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” also stars Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Giancarlo Esposito, Barry Pepper, Lili Taylor, and Patricia Clarkson. It’s due in theaters on September 18.

    Watch the trailer

    Photo credit: Richard Foreman, Jr./Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

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