'Maze Runner' sequel: A unique phenomenon in the coming-of-age film genre

Although not as famous as Twilight, The Hunger Games, Divergent when it was first released, The Maze Runner also achieved relative commercial success. What's special is that all four series have one thing in common.

The common points are that these films do not have famous actors, are directed by "average" directors, have average production budgets, and are based on young adult novels.

Small capital films, "huge" profits, big influence

Yet Twilight (2008), The Hunger Games (2012), Divergent (2014) and to some extent The Maze Runner (2014) all became phenomena at the box office in particular and in popular culture in general.

Not only that, the Twilight, Divergent and Hunger Games series also made their female leads stars. These are four rare series that have achieved success, in the wave of adaptations of young adult novels.

Maze Runner: Scorch Trials promises to be exciting, after the first part of the film was rated as having high quality.

Although it is just a trendy film, it can be said that the quality of the content of Maze Runner "surpasses" the series of works mentioned above. Comparing only the first episodes, The Maze Runner is made much better than Twilight.

After its theatrical run, the film earned 20th Century Fox $102.4 million in North America alone, three times its initial budget. If other countries in the world are included, The Maze Runner's profit is around $340 million.

Clearly, this was a very profitable investment for 20th Century Fox. Therefore, it is no surprise that they continued to adapt the remaining two volumes of the novel of the same name by writer James Dashner.

Not released yet, final production planned

Unlike the other three competitors, which all have female protagonists, The Maze Runner has a male protagonist. After escaping the mysterious and dangerous Grasslands with his friends, Thomas (Dylan O'Brian) is taken to The Scorch - a desert filled with bloodthirsty creatures caused by the disease The Flare.

The group discovers that what they are facing is actually an experiment by a mysterious organization called WCKD.

However, things did not end as they thought, Thomas and his friends were rescued by an army calling themselves the resistance. More surprisingly, Thomas discovered that he was not the only one who survived the WCKD experiment. There were many other Mazes and many other people like them currently residing here.

Besides the old faces from the previous part, Maze Runner: Scorch Trials also introduces to the audience two new characters, Harriet (Nathalie Emmanuel) and Brenda (Rosa Salazar).

In this part 2, director Wes Ball still takes on the role of captain. The motif of The Maze Runner is very familiar to the audience, similar to many recent works for young adults.

The plot of the film is also about a group of young people who, after overcoming many challenges, begin to discover the horrifying truth, and then fight against a mysterious force. However, with the quality of the first part, the audience can completely trust Maze Runner: Scorch Trials.

“The challenge is that a whole new world has opened up,” says lead actor Dylan O’Brien. “It’s no longer a maze or a glade, we’re all on a quest to solve a mystery and overcome another battle. Despite the confusion, the team will stick together because they believe they have to survive.”

Maze Runner: Scorch Trials will be released in North America on September 18. But 20th Century Fox is already planning to produce the final part. Screenwriter TS Nowlin has agreed to write the script.

According to the current plan, Maze Runner: Scorch Trials will also be released in Vietnam on the same day as the North American market.

According to TTVH