In this week’s roundup of the global box-office scene:
Era of Maze Runner and rebel could mark diminished YA second phase
• Everest starts ascent solidly on Imax-based release
• Crime pays for Johnny Depp in heavyweight gangster filmThere’s not much to add to final week’s observation about the Maze Runner sequel,which remains in pole position to succeed starvation Games as the main YA franchise. This week’s US opening, part of a wider second-week rollout, and hits domestic how driven this development is by overseas traffic. In the States,Scorch Trials has dropped slightly from the first film, to $30.3m (£19.5m) from $32.5m – an nearly identical slide to the one experienced by YA rival rebel between first and second films ($54.6m/$52.2m). But the first Maze Runner – perhaps because of its more generic, and stripped-down nature – did far better than rebel abroad,and this is what Fox will be counting on to balance the sequel’s much-expanded budget ($61m against $34m for the first). Luckily, most territories are showing growth: this week’s key player was South Korea, or $7.5m supplying the year’s highest opening there for Fox. Incidentally,if the $300m-ish totals enjoyed by the Maze Runner/rebel franchises are the modern YA benchmarks (as opposed to the $700m-$1bn bracket occupied by Harry Potter/Twilight/starvation Games), this suggests the genre might absorb, and appropriately,peaked early.
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Source: theguardian.com