Dystopian sequel Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials scored the top spot at the US box office this weekend with an opening haul of $30.3m, just ahead of Johnny Depp’s Oscar-tipped turn as a brutal Boston mob boss in Black Mass.
The futuristic tale came in behind series opener The Maze Runner, which managed $32.5m on debut a year ago. Dylan O’Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario, and Patricia Clarkson return for the sequel, which has received mixed reviews.
This time around, the maze runners are pitched against a new series of threats and begin to discover more about the mysterious WCKD organisation that threatens them after escaping the artificial maze environment. Rosa Salazar, Jacob Lofland, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen, Barry Pepper, Lili Taylor and Alan Tudyk join the new cast.
Black Mass, which is eyeing an awards season run after wowing the critics at the Toronto, Telluride and Venice film festivals, scored a more than respectable $23.4m on debut in second place. Starring Depp as murderous real-life gangster Whitey Bulger, who enjoyed a reign of terror over South Boston in the 70s, 80s and 90s, Scott Cooper’s crime biopic also features Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Corey Stoll, Peter Sarsgaard and Jesse Plemons in supporting roles.
The only other new film to make the top 10 this weekend was the disaster thriller Everest, which scored $7.5m on limited release to land in fifth spot. Baltasar Kormákur’s film only screened at 545 Imax and large format locations, taking a spectacular $13,867 per site and breaking Imax’s September opening record with $6m from 366 sites.
Starring Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Robin Wright, Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington and Jake Gyllenhaal, the film centres on two groups of climbers caught up in the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, when a blizzard took the lives of eight people on the world’s tallest peak. It will open across the US and Canada next weekend.
The top five was rounded out by M Night Shyamalan horror The Visit, with $11.3m for a second-week total of $42.3m in third, and last week’s No 1 The Perfect Guy, with $9.7m in its second week for a total of $41.4m.
Outside the top 10 the critically acclaimed Denis Villeneuve crime thriller Sicario scored the highest location average of the year so far, $65,000 on limited release at six cinemas in New York and Los Angeles.
North American box office 18-20 September
1. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials: $30.3m - NEW
2. Black Mass: $23.4m - NEW
3. The Visit: $11.3m. Total: $42.3m
4. The Perfect Guy: $9.7m. Total: $41.4m
5. Everest: $7.5m - NEW
6. War Room: $6.3m. Total: $49.1m
7. A Walk in the Woods: $2.7m. Total: $24.8m
8. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation: $2.2m. Total: $191.7m
9. Straight Outta Compton, $1.9m. Total: $158.9m
10. Grandma: $1.5m. Total: $3.7m
