When I stepped into an early screening of The Maze Runner last week, the theater was only about 80% full. Well, that’s odd, I thought. Normally these events—even for the most obviously horrible movies—are stuffed to the gills with folks. People stand in line for hours to see Machete Bakes a Cake. So when the theater wasn’t packed for Runner, I thought it probably bode ill for the movie’s box office potential.
Well, color me surprised.
The Maze Runner, the latest movie inspired by a dystopian young adult novel, dashed to an estimated $32.5 million weekend and eventually coasted to the box office victory. While the flick didn’t do Hunger Games business (which made $152.5 its first weekend in 2012), it was still one of the highest September debuts on record, according to Box Office Mojo. In fact, 20th Century Fox has already greenlit a sequel (The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials) for next September.
But no matter what folks saw at the movies, they were apparently in the mood for something fresh. The top three box office places were all filled by newcomers—and none were sequels or reboots or reimaginings of 1980s television shows. Weird, huh? Liam Neeson’s R-rated A Walk Among the Tombstones strolled into second place with a $13.1 million haul. And another R-rated feature, this one the dramedy This Is Where I Leave You, earned $11.9 million.
The fourth biggish release this week, the tragi-comi-horror flick Tusk, couldn’t galumph apace with its peers. It earned a sad $900,000, give or take a few bucks, and collected just $1,500 per theater (compared to Maze Runner’s $9,000). Apparently, watching someone be slowly and painfully turned into a walrus just didn’t have the box office appeal maker Kevin Smith had hoped.
No Good Deed, last week’s champion, slid all the way down to fourth place with $10.2 million, losing nearly 60% of its audience en route. Dolphin Tale 2, by comparison, lost just about 40% of its week-over-week fanbase, finishing just behind Deed in an (ahem) squeaker.
Final figures update: 1. The Maze Runner, $32.5 million; 2. A Walk Among the Tombstones, $12.8 million; 3. This is Where I Leave You, $11.6 million; 4. No Good Deed, $9.8 million; 5. Dolphin Tale 2, $8.9 million.
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