Thanks almost entirely to the global Harry Potter phenomenon – and then latterly The Twilight Saga and The Hunger Games – any literary series geared towards young adults that sold a decent number of copies was snapped up by a studio and given the feature film treatment. The bandwagon saw countless failures, though, with The Maze Runner one of the very few to see things through to the end.
Bolstered by a charming and charismatic central performance from Dylan O’Brien, the opening installment did a solid job of establishing the rules of the world and introducing us to an ensemble cast of talented young stars, while also leaving the door open just wide enough to create intrigue, anticipation, and a sense of mystery for what came next.
Decent reviews from critics, strong notices from audiences, and an impressive $348 million take at the box office on a $34 million budget ensured that The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure would be guaranteed live-action adaptations, even if both of the sequels failed to match the original in terms of critical and commercial performance.
It’s been almost a decade since O’Brien’s Thomas was dumped in a vast glade with no explanation as to why, but The Maze Runner continues to explore the upper reaches of the streaming charts. As per FlixPatrol, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes director Wes Ball’s feature-length debut has become the ninth most-watched movie among HBO Max subscribers in the United States, so we can reasonably expect the second and third chapters to follow suit if a full-blown rewatch is on the cards.