'Maze Runner' Wins the Weekend
by EG
The Maze Runner: The Death Cure modestly outperformed expectations at the box office over the weekend, taking the week's crown away from Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle. The third and final installment in the Maze Runner franchise took in $23.5 million and ended Jumanji's three-week reign at the top of the box-office charts. Despite its weekend win, The Death Cure had the least successful opening weekend of the franchise by far.
Maze Runner: The Death Cure sprinted to the top of box office in its domestic debut over the weekend, unseating Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle with $23.5 million from 3,787 theaters.
The final installment in 20th Century Fox's dystopian YA film franchise is doing sensational business overseas. It grossed $62.6 million for the weekend from 58 markets for an early foreign total of $82 million and $105.5 million globally, including a $21.6 million China launch.
The Death Cure was originally set to hit theaters a year ago, but its release was delayed when franchise star Dylan O'Brien was injured while filming. Wes Ball directed all three films, the last of which, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, launched to $30.6 million in September 2015. The first outing, The Maze Runner, opened to $32.5 million in September 2014.
This time out, the Gladers travel to the villainous WCKD headquarters to rescue their friends. Nearly 60 percent of ticket buyers were under the age of 25.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle — which had stayed atop the chart the previous three weekends — was hardly a slouch, grossing $16.4 million from 3,553 locations in its sixth outing for a domestic total of $338 million. Globally, the reboot has hit $822 million to become the fifth-biggest film in Sony's history, not accounting for inflation.
Elsewhere, Scott Cooper's gritty Western Hostiles, starring Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike, rode into 2,813 theaters across the country after playing in select cinemas since Christmas. The indie film, which placed No. 3, grossed an estimated $10.2 million for an early total of $12.1 million.
The Greatest Showman remained a force in its sixth weekend, dropping just 11 percent to $9.5 million for a domestic tally of $126.5 million for Fox and Chernin Entertainment. Overseas, the Hugh Jackman starrer has grossed $133 million to date for a worldwide cume of $259.6 million.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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