Weekend Box Office: 'Maze Runner' Is Scorchin', and Johnny Depp's 'Black Mass' Brings in the Mobs
Jacob Lofland, Alex Flores, and Dylan O’Brien in a scene from ‘Maze Runner: Scorch Trials’
By Pamela McClintock
Fox’s YA film adaptation Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials won the North American box-office race with $30.3 million from 3,796 theaters, while Johnny Depp’s violent crime drama Black Mass delivered the actor a needed win with $23.4 million from 3,186 locations as awards season gets underway.
Scorch Trials came in just behind the first film, which debuted to $32.5 million on the same weekend a year ago. The good news is that the sequel is pacing ahead of the first overseas.
From Warner Bros., Black Mass, starring Depp as infamous Boston’s Irish-American mobster Whitey Bulger, is counting on a long run throughout awards season. One question mark is the adult drama’s B CinemaScore; many expected the R-rated title to get a better grade after a whirlwind tour on the fall festival circuit and generally positive reviews from critics.
Warners has had plenty of luck with fall adult dramas in the past. Martin Scorsese’s The Departed opened to $26.9 million in early October 2006 on its way to grossing $132.4 million domestically, while Ben Affleck’s Argo launched to $19.5 million in October 2012 on its way to earning $136 million (both films took home the Oscar for best picture). Black Mass, directed by Scott Cooper, cost $53 million to produce.
Related: ‘Black Mass’: Venice Review
Depp, who stars opposite Joel Edgerton and Benedict Cumberbatch, needed to make a strong showing after suffering a string of box-office disappointments, including Mortdecai and The Lone Ranger. Black Mass skewed notably older, with nearly 90 percent of the audience over the age of 25, and male (56 percent). It also overperformed in Boston, where Bulger ruled before going on the lamb.
Watch an interview with the cast of ‘Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’ below:
Maze Runner, rated PG-13, relied on younger consumers, with 65 percent of the audience under the age of 25. Females made up 53 percent ticket buyers.
Wes Ball returns in the director’s chair, along with actors Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario and Patricia Clarkson. Giancarlo Esposito, Barry Pepper and Lili Taylor are among those joining the franchise. The $61 million sequel picks up immediately after the events in the first film, as Thomas and his fellow Gladers try to survive the Scorch, a desolate, dangerous landscape, while continuing to battle the W.C.K.D.
Related: ‘Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’: Film Review
Black Mass competed with Baltasar Kormakur’s adventure Everest for males. In an unusual rollout, Everest only debuted in 545 Imax and premium large-format theaters a week ahead of its nationwide launch. Placing No. 5, the action-adventure film grossed $7.6 million for a location average of $13,867.
Everest — which, like Black Mass, made its world premiere at the 2015 Venice Film Festival — stars Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly, Sam Worthington,Keira Knightley, Emily Watson and Jake Gyllenhaal. Working Title, Cross Creek Pictures and Walden Media partnered with Universal on the $55 million film, with Cross Creek and Walden co-financing.
Internationally, Everest opened in 36 markets this weekend, earning an estimated $26.5 million, including first-place finishes in Mexico, Argentina and Australia.
Watch an interview with the ‘Black Mass’ cast below:
Paramount also entered the fray this weekend with faith-based drama Captive, starring David Oyelowo and Kate Mara (the studio acquired the film this spring after working with Oyelowo on Selma). Captive is only playing in 806 theaters, earning an estimated $1.5 million and putting it at No. 10.
The $2 million film is based on the true story of Ashley Smith and Brian Nichols, who took Smith hostage in her own apartment. During the ordeal, Smith turned to Rick Warren’s inspirational book, The Purpose Driven Life, for guidance to startling results for both herself and Nichols. Smith later wrote a book, Unlikely Angel.
Related: 'Everest’: Venice Review
At the specialty box office, two high-profile awards contenders debuted: Denis Villeneuve'sacclaimed crime-thriller Sicario, starring Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin; and Edward Zwick’s Pawn Sacrifice, starring Tobey Maguire as chess champion Bobby Fischer and Liev Schreiber as his Russian rival, Boris Spassky.
Lionsgate launched Sicario in six theaters in New York and Los Angeles, where the movie proposed for a screen average of at least $65,000, the top showing of the year so far.
Pawn Sacrifice, rolling out in 33 locations, opened to $206,879 for a theater average of $6,269 for Bleecker Street.
Watch an interview with the ‘Sicario’ cast below:
