Maze Runner The Scorch Trials Wins Weekend Box Office
A busy weekend at the box office saw a slew of new openings and some solid debuts, as Maze Runner The Scorch Trials easily won the weekend with an estimated 30.3 million. Although most expected Scorch Trials to earn about 35 million, it actually fell short of the original Maze Runner's 32.5 million debut. Still, it's a strong opening for the adaptation of James Dashner's young adult novel, which earned a B+ CinemaScore and stars Dylan O'Brien as a teenager struggling to survive in a scorched wasteland. In second place, Black Mass opened to 23.4 million and a B CinemaScore. Starring Johnny Depp as the legendary Boston gangster Whitey Bulger, Black Mass' debut puts it on par with other Boston crime flicks like The Departed, which opened to 26.9 million in 2006, and The Town, which opened to 23.8 million in 2010. Fifth place went to Everest, which opened exclusively on 3-D, IMAX, and premium screens and earned a whopping 7.6 million in only 545 locations. Based on the true story of a 1996 disaster, Everest stars Josh Brolin, Jason Clarke, and Jake Gyllenhaal and will go wide next weekend. Everest also opened in 36 international territories, bringing its worldwide total to an estimated 35.8 million. M. Night Shyamalan's The Visit topped the holdovers, earning an estimated 11.4 million. The thriller's domestic total is now at an estimated 42.3 million after 10 days. The Perfect Guy, which debuted in first place last weekend, came in just behind, earning 9.7 million for a domestic total of 41.4 million. This weekend's other new wide release, the faith-based drama Captive, opened to an estimated 1.4 million in 800 theaters. Based on a true story, Captive stars Kate Mara as a woman taken hostage by an escaped convict David Oyelowo. At the specialty box office, Pawn Sacrifice, starring Tobey Maguire as chess legend Bobby Fischer, earned an estimated 206,879 in 33 theaters, while Sicario, starring Emily Blunt as an FBI agent taking on the drug war, earned 390,000 in just six theaters. For Sicario, that's an average of 65,000 per theater  the best so far this year.Sicario will go wide on Oct. 2.