Maze Runner 4 Movie
Development of The Maze Runner began in January 2011 when Fox purchased the film rights to Dashner's novel with film studios Temple Hill Entertainment and TSG Entertainment. Principal photography began in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on May 13, 2013 and officially concluded on July 12, 2013.
The Box Office:
Maze Runner: The Death Cure begins its international rollout tomorrow in South Korea, after which it will eventually make its way to US theaters on Jan 26. The Wes Ball-directed sci-fi actioner is the third and final chapter in what was supposed to be a quickie three-part YA fantasy franchise based on James Dashner’s novels. Alas, Dylan O'Brien was seriously injured on the said of this picture, and his recovery caused the film to be pushed to what is now just over two years after Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. It says something about the speed of entertainment these days that a 2.25-year wait between installments for a moderately-budgeted genre franchise is considered… ungainly.
Sure some old-school franchises, like Jurassic World or Mission: Impossible, are still dropping an installment every 3-4 years. But Fast and Furious now offers a movie every two years, the MCU has three movies per year (with, yes, the specific franchises going 2-4 between installments) and the YA sub-genre (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Twilight, Divergent) got us used to one movie every year. Even if absence hasn’t made the heart grow fonder, this is the final episode in a self-contained story. So there isn’t much at stake beyond dollars and sense for investors and the financial legacy of the series.
The first Maze Runner had a leggy (ha!) run in September of 2014, opening with $32 million and ending with $103m domestic and $348m on a $34m budget. The Scorch Trials, a longer, more expense and frankly inferior sequel, opened a year later with $30m and ended its run with $81m domestic and $312m worldwide on a $61m budget. I don’t have a production budget for The Death Cure, but this is not a cheap-looking motion picture. Come what may, at least it got to finish its story, unlike Divergent or Chronicles of Narnia. And kudos for not splitting the last book into two movies.
The Review:
As a whole, the three-part Maze Runner series is a fine example of a known sub-genre (the YA dystopian fantasy) dabbling in explicit genre appropriation. The first (and mostly self-contained) Maze Runner was a bit of a monster movie/haunted house hybrid, while the inferior and overly world build-y Scorch Trials was a full-on zombie adventure. The Death Cure, which is heavy on character and light on mythology, is a hard action picture, filled with relentless chases, brutal smackdowns and more than a few breathless stunt sequences. Considering how much I didn’t care for the second film, I was beyond surprised to see how much I enjoyed this third and final chapter.
After a curtain-raiser chase set six months after Scorch Trials’ cliffhanger conclusion, whereby our heroes are reintroduced rescuing kids destined for “the maze,” we get a bit of “for those who don’t remember the last two films all that well” exposition and some character reestablishment. This info dump feels surprisingly organic, perhaps since it’s less about educating newbies and more about just jogging the memory of casual fans. Nonetheless, if you have the time, I would recommend rewatching the first two films. I was never lost, but I do wish I had bothered to at least skim a summary of the plot-heavy second movie. But the movie works on its own terms.
After we re-meet the good guys (Dylan O’Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Rosa Salazar, Giancarlo Esposito and Barry Pepper), the bad guys (Patricia Clarkson and Aidan Gillen) and the in-betweens (Kaya Scodelario’s sympathetic turncoat), our core heroes reembark on a quest into a protected city to free a captured colleague (Ki Hong Lee). And that’s… it. What makes this picture so refreshing is that, for most of its 140-minute running time, it’s just about sneaking into the enemy territory to rescue a friend from peril. They aren’t trying to save the world or fulfill a destiny or overthrow a tyrannical regime. They just want to get what’s there’s and get out alive.
There are complications, in the form of Scodelario’s conflicted government scientist and the subversive notion that it’s the villains who are actively trying to save human race from extinction. Yes, their methods (kidnapping, torture, murder) are very bad, but Clarkson offers such complex empathy that they have Gillen overdo the overt villainy so that we can get a standard hero versus villain showdown toward the end. Nonetheless, especially in these circumstances, there is a valid argument to be made on both sides and the picture goes out of its way not to overly villainize its two major female characters (while splitting up the heroes so that Salazar can get her own big hero moments).
For at least the first two acts, we have a somewhat human-scaled action-adventure film, one that looks and feels grand in scope while taking the time to create real suspense and small-scale character-driven tension amid the top-flight action and stunts. Without making a direct one-to-one comparison, this feels not unlike how the Russo Brothers used Captain America: The Winter Soldier to introduce old-school action choreography and real-world fighting into the MCU superhero world. Without knowing if he’s kind to children and animals, I’ll argue that director Wes Ball should be in very high demand the next time a studio goes hunting for a fantasy and or superhero franchise director.
The third act does go a little overboard with big-scale spectacle, climactic showdowns, fond farewells and the like. But even this stuff feels a little different, with theoretical “good guys” unleashing horrific kaiju-level destruction and carnage while our heroes just try to make it out alive. And yes, the film does come full circle as to why O’Brien’s Thomas has been the protagonist of choice, but even here we get a choice rebuttal of the whole “chosen one” motif. It ends on a satisfying note, with enough of an opening for continuation should it make $400 million worldwide but more than enough closure to qualify as a series finale.
Maze Runner: The Death Cure can’t quite beat the first film’s lean-and-mean horror tropes, but nor does it fall prey to the sequel’s mythology overdose. The production values are top notch, the action sequences are genuinely impressive and occasionally inventive (I’m fond of the bus gag), the characters are sympathetic and there isn’t a bum performance in the bunch. Maze Runner: The Death Cure is a solid big-budget action thriller that just happens to be the third-and-final part of a YA fantasy franchise. The comic book superhero movie has evolved by embracing explicit genre appropriation, and I will argue that the YA fantasy genre would do well to do likewise.
'>The Box Office:
Maze Runner: The Death Cure begins its international rollout tomorrow in South Korea, after which it will eventually make its way to US theaters on Jan 26. The Wes Ball-directed sci-fi actioner is the third and final chapter in what was supposed to be a quickie three-part YA fantasy franchise based on James Dashner’s novels. Alas, Dylan O'Brien was seriously injured on the said of this picture, and his recovery caused the film to be pushed to what is now just over two years after Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. It says something about the speed of entertainment these days that a 2.25-year wait between installments for a moderately-budgeted genre franchise is considered… ungainly.
Sure some old-school franchises, like Jurassic World or Mission: Impossible, are still dropping an installment every 3-4 years. But Fast and Furious now offers a movie every two years, the MCU has three movies per year (with, yes, the specific franchises going 2-4 between installments) and the YA sub-genre (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Twilight, Divergent) got us used to one movie every year. Even if absence hasn’t made the heart grow fonder, this is the final episode in a self-contained story. So there isn’t much at stake beyond dollars and sense for investors and the financial legacy of the series.
The first Maze Runner had a leggy (ha!) run in September of 2014, opening with $32 million and ending with $103m domestic and $348m on a $34m budget. The Scorch Trials, a longer, more expense and frankly inferior sequel, opened a year later with $30m and ended its run with $81m domestic and $312m worldwide on a $61m budget. I don’t have a production budget for The Death Cure, but this is not a cheap-looking motion picture. Come what may, at least it got to finish its story, unlike Divergent or Chronicles of Narnia. And kudos for not splitting the last book into two movies.
The Review:
As a whole, the three-part Maze Runner series is a fine example of a known sub-genre (the YA dystopian fantasy) dabbling in explicit genre appropriation. The first (and mostly self-contained) Maze Runner was a bit of a monster movie/haunted house hybrid, while the inferior and overly world build-y Scorch Trials was a full-on zombie adventure. The Death Cure, which is heavy on character and light on mythology, is a hard action picture, filled with relentless chases, brutal smackdowns and more than a few breathless stunt sequences. Considering how much I didn’t care for the second film, I was beyond surprised to see how much I enjoyed this third and final chapter.
After a curtain-raiser chase set six months after Scorch Trials’ cliffhanger conclusion, whereby our heroes are reintroduced rescuing kids destined for “the maze,” we get a bit of “for those who don’t remember the last two films all that well” exposition and some character reestablishment. This info dump feels surprisingly organic, perhaps since it’s less about educating newbies and more about just jogging the memory of casual fans. Nonetheless, if you have the time, I would recommend rewatching the first two films. I was never lost, but I do wish I had bothered to at least skim a summary of the plot-heavy second movie. But the movie works on its own terms.
Maze Runner 4 Movie 2020
After we re-meet the good guys (Dylan O’Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Rosa Salazar, Giancarlo Esposito and Barry Pepper), the bad guys (Patricia Clarkson and Aidan Gillen) and the in-betweens (Kaya Scodelario’s sympathetic turncoat), our core heroes reembark on a quest into a protected city to free a captured colleague (Ki Hong Lee). And that’s… it. What makes this picture so refreshing is that, for most of its 140-minute running time, it’s just about sneaking into the enemy territory to rescue a friend from peril. They aren’t trying to save the world or fulfill a destiny or overthrow a tyrannical regime. They just want to get what’s there’s and get out alive.
There are complications, in the form of Scodelario’s conflicted government scientist and the subversive notion that it’s the villains who are actively trying to save human race from extinction. Yes, their methods (kidnapping, torture, murder) are very bad, but Clarkson offers such complex empathy that they have Gillen overdo the overt villainy so that we can get a standard hero versus villain showdown toward the end. Nonetheless, especially in these circumstances, there is a valid argument to be made on both sides and the picture goes out of its way not to overly villainize its two major female characters (while splitting up the heroes so that Salazar can get her own big hero moments).
For at least the first two acts, we have a somewhat human-scaled action-adventure film, one that looks and feels grand in scope while taking the time to create real suspense and small-scale character-driven tension amid the top-flight action and stunts. Without making a direct one-to-one comparison, this feels not unlike how the Russo Brothers used Captain America: The Winter Soldier to introduce old-school action choreography and real-world fighting into the MCU superhero world. Without knowing if he’s kind to children and animals, I’ll argue that director Wes Ball should be in very high demand the next time a studio goes hunting for a fantasy and or superhero franchise director.
The third act does go a little overboard with big-scale spectacle, climactic showdowns, fond farewells and the like. But even this stuff feels a little different, with theoretical “good guys” unleashing horrific kaiju-level destruction and carnage while our heroes just try to make it out alive. And yes, the film does come full circle as to why O’Brien’s Thomas has been the protagonist of choice, but even here we get a choice rebuttal of the whole “chosen one” motif. It ends on a satisfying note, with enough of an opening for continuation should it make $400 million worldwide but more than enough closure to qualify as a series finale.
Maze Runner: The Death Cure can’t quite beat the first film’s lean-and-mean horror tropes, but nor does it fall prey to the sequel’s mythology overdose. The production values are top notch, the action sequences are genuinely impressive and occasionally inventive (I’m fond of the bus gag), the characters are sympathetic and there isn’t a bum performance in the bunch. Maze Runner: The Death Cure is a solid big-budget action thriller that just happens to be the third-and-final part of a YA fantasy franchise. The comic book superhero movie has evolved by embracing explicit genre appropriation, and I will argue that the YA fantasy genre would do well to do likewise.
| Maze Runner | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Wes Ball |
| Produced by |
|
| Screenplay by | T.S. Nowlin |
| Based on | The Maze Runner series by James Dashner |
| Starring | |
| Music by | John Paesano |
| |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| 2014–2018 | |
Running time | Total (3 films): 386 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | Total (3 films): $157 million |
| Box office | Total (3 films): $949 million |
Maze Runner is an American film trilogy consisting of science-fictiondystopianactionadventure films based on The Maze Runner novels by the American author James Dashner. Produced by Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and distributed by 20th Century Fox, the films star Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Dexter Darden and Patricia Clarkson. Wes Ball directed all three films.
The first film, The Maze Runner, was released on September 19, 2014 and became a commercial success grossing over $348 million worldwide. The second film, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials was released on September 18, 2015, and was also a success, grossing over $312 million worldwide. The film series concluded with the release of the third film, Maze Runner: The Death Cure on January 26, 2018.
- 1Films
- 5Reception
Films[edit]
The Maze Runner (2014)[edit]
The film features Thomas, who wakes up trapped in a maze with a group of other boys. He has no memory of the outside world other than dreams about an organization known as WCKD (World Catastrophe Killzone Department). Only by piecing together fragments of his past with clues he discovers in the maze can Thomas hope to uncover his purpose and a way to escape.[1]
Development for the film began in January 2011 when Fox purchased the film rights to Dashner's novel The Maze Runner.[2]Principal photography began in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in May 2013 and ended in July.[3][4] It was released on September 19, 2014.[5]
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)[edit]
The film features Thomas and his fellow Gladers as they search for clues about the organization known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD's 'vastly superior' forces and uncover its plans for them all.[6]
Principal photography commenced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in October 2014 and ended in January 2015.[7][8] It was released on September 18, 2015.[9]
Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)[edit]
In the finale to the Maze Runner saga, Thomas leads his group of escaped Gladers on their final and most dangerous mission yet. To save their friends, they must break into the legendary Last City, a WCKD-controlled labyrinth that may turn out to be the deadliest maze of all. Anyone who makes it out alive will get answers to the questions the Gladers have been asking since they first arrived in the maze.[10]
In March 2015, T.S. Nowlin, who co-wrote the first and wrote the second film, was hired to write Maze Runner: The Death Cure based on the novel The Death Cure.[11] In September 2015, Ball was hired to direct the film.[12] Ball said that the film would not be split into two films.[13] Principal photography took place in Cape Town, South Africa between March and June 2017 for a January 26, 2018 release.[14][15][16][17]
Cast and characters[edit]
Maze Runner 4 Movie Theater
| Character | Films | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Maze Runner (2014) | Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) | Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) | |
| Thomas | Dylan O'Brien | ||
| Teresa | Kaya Scodelario | ||
| Newt | Thomas Brodie-Sangster | ||
| Minho | Ki Hong Lee | ||
| Frypan | Dexter Darden | ||
| Ava Paige | Patricia Clarkson | ||
| Winston | Alexander Flores | ||
| Gally | Will Poulter | Will Poulter | |
| Alby | Aml Ameen | ||
| Chuck | Blake Cooper | ||
| Zart | Joe Adler | ||
| Jeff | Jacob Latimore | ||
| Ben | Chris Sheffield | ||
| Clint | Randall D. Cunningham | ||
| Brenda | Rosa Salazar | ||
| Aris | Jacob Lofland | ||
| Jorge | Giancarlo Esposito | ||
| Janson | Aidan Gillen | ||
| Vince | Barry Pepper | ||
| Harriet | Nathalie Emmanuel | ||
| Sonya | Katherine McNamara | ||
| Mary Cooper | Lili Taylor | ||
| Marcus | Alan Tudyk | ||
| Lawrence | Walton Goggins | ||
Crew[edit]
| Occupation | Film | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Maze Runner | Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials | Maze Runner: The Death Cure | |
| Director | Wes Ball | ||
| Producer(s) | Ellen Goldsmith-VeinWyck GodfreyMarty BowenLee Stollman | Ellen Goldsmith-VeinWyck GodfreyMarty BowenLee StollmanJoe Hartwick Jr. | Ellen Goldsmith-VeinWyck GodfreyMarty BowenJoe Hartwick Jr.Wes BallLee Stollman |
| Writer(s) | Noah OppenheimGrant Pierce MyersT.S. Nowlin | T.S. Nowlin | |
| Director of photography | Enrique Chediak | Gyula Pados | |
| Editor(s) | Dan Zimmerman | Dan ZimmermanPaul Harb | |
Music[edit]
| Title | U.S. release date | Composer(s) | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Maze Runner — Original Motion Picture Soundtrack[18] | September 12, 2014 | John Paesano | Sony Classical |
| Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials — Original Motion Picture Soundtrack[19] | September 11, 2015 | ||
| Maze Runner: The Death Cure — Original Motion Picture Soundtrack[20] | January 26, 2018 |
Reception[edit]
Box office performance[edit]
| Film | Release date | Box office gross | Box office ranking | Production budget | Ref(s) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | Other territories | Worldwide | All time North America | All time worldwide | ||||
| The Maze Runner | September 19, 2014 | $102,427,862 | $245,891,999 | $348,319,861 | 580 | 285 | $34 million | [21] |
| Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials | September 18, 2015 | $81,697,192 | $230,627,911 | $312,325,103 | 810 | 337 | $61 million | [22] |
| Maze Runner: The Death Cure | January 26, 2018 | $58,032,443 | $230,385,747 | $288,418,190 | 1,377 | 467 | $62 million | [23] |
| Total | [24] | |||||||
| $242,157,497 | $706,905,657 | $949,063,154 | $157 million | |||||
All Maze Runner films opened at number-one at the North American box-office during their opening weekend.[25][26][27] In North America, the Maze Runner film series is the fifth highest-grossing film series based on young adult books, after the film series of Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, The Twilight Saga, and The Divergent Series respectively, earning $242 million.[28] Worldwide, it is the fourth highest-grossing film series based on young-adult books, after the film series of Harry Potter, The Twilight Saga, and The Hunger Games respectively, earning $949 million from a $157 million total production budget.[24]
Critical and public response[edit]
Will There Be A Maze Runner 4
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Maze Runner | 65% (160 reviews)[29] | 57 (34 reviews)[1] | A–[30] |
| Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials | 46% (137 reviews)[31] | 43 (29 reviews)[6] | B+[30] |
| Maze Runner: The Death Cure | 43% (144 reviews)[32] | 51 (37 reviews)[10] | B+[30] |
References[edit]
- ^ ab'The Maze Runner Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
- ^Zeitchik, Steven (January 4, 2011). 'Young-adult sensation 'The Maze Runner' gets ready to run the movie gantlet (Updated)'. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
- ^'Maze Runner Movie Set'. jamesdashner.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2014. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
- ^'The Maze Runner Movie Release Date, News, and Updates: 2 New Clips Released in Anticipation of The Premiere'. hallels.com. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
- ^Busch, Anita (September 21, 2014). 'Box Office Sunday: 'Maze Runner' Finds $32.5M; Liam's 'Walk' Limps In; 'Where I Leave You' No. 3'. Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
- ^ ab'Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
- ^Maze Runner Official Twitter (October 27, 2014). 'Maze Runner: Scorch Trials begins filming'. Twitter. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
- ^Wentz, Brook (January 29, 2015). ''The Maze Runner' sequel 'The Scorch Trials' officially wraps filming'. Hypable. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
- ^Dashner, James (September 21, 2014). 'And like that's not cool enough, it's official: THE SCORCH TRIALS movie is coming September 18, 2015. Doesn't this look sweet: #ScorchTrials'. Twitter. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
- ^ ab'Maze Runner: The Death Cure reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
- ^Busch, Anita (March 4, 2015). ''Maze Runner: The Death Cure' Sets T.S. Nowlin To Pen'. Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
- ^McNary, Dave; Chi, Paul (September 16, 2015). 'Wes Ball Returning to Direct Third 'Maze Runner''. Variety. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
- ^Sciretta, Peter (October 9, 2014). ''The Maze Runner' Finale 'The Death Cure' Won't Be Split Into Two Movies'. /Film. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
- ^Busch, Anita (August 29, 2016). ''The Maze Runner: The Death Cure' Will Restart Production In February'. Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
- ^Bailey, Ian (September 4, 2016). 'Maze Runner film production leaving B.C. for South Africa'. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
- ^D'Alessandro, Anthony (April 22, 2017). 'Deadpool 2', 'New Mutants' & 'Dark Phoenix' Find 2018 Dates Among Fox's Slew Of Release Changes & Additions'. Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
- ^McNary, Dave (August 25, 2017). 'Steven Spielberg's Pentagon Papers Movie Re-Titled 'The Post''. Variety. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
- ^'The Maze Runner (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)'. Apple Music. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
- ^'Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)'. Apple Music. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
- ^'Maze Runner: The Death Cure (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)'. Apple Music. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
- ^'The Maze Runner (2014)'. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
- ^'Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)'. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
- ^'Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)'. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
- ^ ab'Maze Runner Movies at the Box Office'. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
- ^Subers, Ray (September 21, 2014). 'Weekend Report: 'Maze Runner' Franchise Off to Strong Start'. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
- ^Brevet, Brad (September 20, 2015). ''Maze' and 'Mass' Top Box Office, but 'Everest' and 'Sicario' are the Story'. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
- ^Brevet, Brad Brevet (January 28, 2018). ''Maze Runner' #1, 'Jumanji' & 'Showman' Hold Strong & 'Padmaavat' Takes Spot in Top Ten'. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
- ^'Young-Adult Book Adaptations Movies at the Box Office'. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
- ^'The Maze Runner (2014)'. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
- ^ abc'Cinemascore'. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
- ^'Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)'. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
- ^'Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)'. Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved March 6, 2018.