In the post- “Hunger Games” world of Young Adult novels being adapted into movies—most of which are dystopian with a theme of adults trying to oppress or control the younger generation (parent’s just don’t understand, yo)—many have tried and failed. Most have flopped outright (“Beautiful Creatures”) and some successful ones (“Divergent”) are already starting to disappoint in their sequels. One surprise breakout success of the YA/sci-fi genre is “The Maze Runner” series. The film opened on an unremarkable date in September of 2014, and perhaps because of low expectations, surprised most pundits, eventually grossed a whopping $340 million worldwide (bigger than any “Divergent” films so far by almost $50 million).
In the sequel, subtitled ‘The Scorch Trials,’ Dylan O’Brien’s lead character and other survivors of the inaugural film escaped the maze. Alas, now they have bigger problems: a solar flare has seared the Earth and unleashed a deadly disease. The survivors find themselves facing several obstacles, running into duplicitous safe havens run by paramilitary groups, and fighting for their lives in the wasteland.
“[O’Brien’s] character is responsible for taking the kids and fleeing the maze at great cost,” returning director Wes Ball told EW recently. “A lot of people died, some of them his best friends. And he might be marching these kids again into dangerous situations. So Thomas has a lot of guilt resting on his shoulders.”
Deadly forces everywhere and a moody young leader who has the weight of the world on his shoulders? Oh, it’s definitely a YA novel. Joining the ensemble cast that already includes Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and more are Rosa Salazar, Jacob Lofland, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen, Barry Pepper and Lili Taylor. Almost exactly a year later from the original film, the quickly-turned-around “The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” opens September 18. Watch the first trailer, which debuted at Comic-Con, below.
‘SCORCH TRIALS’ to be "almost a different genre". So I’m guessing that means it won’t feel like a Dystopia?
— Superhero Feed (@SuperheroFeed) July 12, 2015
Director @wesball says "we have a little bit of a horror movie on our hands here" about #TheMazeRunner2
— JoBlo.com (@joblocom) July 12, 2015
Scorch Trials sets up a "really cool third movie" – Wes Ball. #SDCC
— Rob Keyes (@rob_keyes) July 12, 2015
The director says that even though it’s a sequel to the first ‘MAZE RUNNER’ he tried to make ‘SCORCH TRIALS’ an entire different movie.
— Superhero Feed (@SuperheroFeed) July 12, 2015
