'Maze Runner' Accident Causes Release Delay

When actor Dylan O'Brien was injured in an on-set accident while working on The Maze Runner: The Death Cure, initial hopes were that his injuries weren't serious and that the production would be back on track within a few weeks. Those hopes didn't pan out, and now the still-on-hold production has had its release date pushed back by almost a year.

O'Brien was injured in March in an accident that involved more than one vehicle and several broken bones. At first the production attempted to downplay the severity of the actor's injuries, but it quickly became apparent that his recovery would take a lengthy amount of time. Production shut down in April, and it is still shut down. There is no official word on when the film will start back up again, or whether O'Brien's injuries will require rewrites or reshoots on the project.

There is, however, official word on how much the shutdown will affect the timing of the film's release. Fox announced this week that the film's new release date is January 12, 2018, nearly a full year after its original release date of February 17, 2017.

The move is another setback for the franchise, which already saw its first sequel, The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials, turn in a significantly worse box-office performance than the original film.