Maze Runner – Die Auserwählten in der Brandwüste

Vorlage:Use mdy dates Vorlage:Infobox film Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (also known simply as The Scorch Trials) is a 2015 American dystopian science fiction action thriller film based on James Dashner's novel The Scorch Trials, the second novel in The Maze Runner trilogy. The film is the sequel to the 2014 film The Maze Runner and the second installment in The Maze Runner film series, directed by Wes Ball, with a screenplay by T.S. Nowlin. Adding to the existing cast of Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario, and Patricia Clarkson, the supporting cast was filled out with Rosa Salazar, Jacob Lofland, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen, Barry Pepper, Lili Taylor and Alan Tudyk.

The plot of The Scorch Trials takes place immediately after the previous installment, with Thomas (O'Brien) and his fellow Gladers battling the powerful organization W.C.K.D while facing the perils of the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with dangerous obstacles. Filming began in Albuquerque, New Mexico on October 27, 2014, before officially concluding on January 27, 2015.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials was released in select international territories starting September 9, 2015 in 2D, 3D, 4DX and Barco Escape, and was released on September 18, 2015 in the United States in 2D and Premium Large Format theaters by 20th Century Fox. It was originally set to be released in IMAX but this was cancelled as Everest had all worldwide IMAX screens booked until the release of the film The Walk.

Plot

Shortly after being rescued from the maze trials, Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) and the remaining Gladers - Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Minho (Ki Hong Lee), Teresa Agnes (Kaya Scodelario), Frypan (Dexter Darden) and Winston (Alexander Flores) - are taken to a facility run by Mr. Janson (Aidan Gillen). He explains that the facility is a safe haven, protecting them from WICKED, the Flare virus and the Cranks, and provides them clothes, food, and sanitation, where there are other survivors of multiple mazes are also present. Thomas becomes curious about their activities and manages to find out what is really happening behind the closed doors. With help from Aris Jones (Jacob Lofland), it is revealed that WICKED's leader Ava Paige (Patricia Clarkson) is still alive and that Mr. Janson is working for WICKED, as they discuss about the experiment on the Immunes and that Janson has yet to find The Right Arm, a resistance group located at the mountains. The group, including Aris, escapes the facility, as Janson orders his WICKED troops to track them down, where they find themselves in the deserted outside world - the Scorch.

The group arrive at an abandoned marketplace, where they first encounter with the Cranks, humans zombified by the Flare virus. Winston gets infected by one of the them in the process. When morning comes, they find the city has turned into ruins and that WICKED is still searching for them. Winston's infection gets worse, forcing the rest of the group to leave him alone to die by shooting himself, preventing his transformation. The group continues to venture the desert until one night, while sleeping in the middle of the desert, Thomas awakens and discovers civilization from far away. As a thunderstorm emerges, they run to a facility to keep them from the storm. Minho gets struck by the lightning, but he manages to survive. They manages to enter the place, only to find out that the room they enter was filled with chained Cranks. The group meets Brenda (Rosa Salazar) and Jorge (Giancarlo Esposito), who lead a dangerous band of survivors and has used the Cranks as guard dogs. When the two find that the group had come from WICKED and is looking for the Right Arm, the two agree to take them to the Right Arm, abandoning their group of survivors. Moments later, WICKED, lead by Janson, storms the place, only for the facility to be destroyed by Jorge's explosives, while Thomas and Brenda are left behind as the rest have escaped with Jorge. Thomas and Brenda manage to escape the Cranks, only for Brenda to get infected by a Crank in the process. As Thomas and Brenda reunite with the rest of the group, Jorge interrogates Marcus (Alan Tudyk), a survivor who secretly works for WICKED, into revealing the whereabouts of The Right Arm.

The group eventually arrive at The Right Arm's location, where other innocent survivors are present, and are greeted by Vince (Barry Pepper) who leads the Right Arm and is in charge of deciding whether they can stay or not. As Brenda's infection gets worse, Vince threaten to shoot Brenda, only to be stopped by Mary Cooper (Lili Taylor), a former WICKED scientist who reveals that Thomas was their informant. As Mary halts Brenda's infection using an enzyme cure, Mary explains that the enzyme can only be harvested by an Immune's body, not manufactured, and that arguments over the methods of manufacturing the cure with Ava lead Mary's departure from WICKED. That evening, Teresa calls WICKED of her location, believing that WICKED's motivations are good, leading to an ambush by WICKED. Ava and Janson arrive at the location and captures survivors for experimentation, including Minho, while Janson shoots Mary dead. After Thomas and the Right Arm fend the WICKED troops off, Ava, Janson and Teresa leave with their captured survivors. With only a fraction of survivors at the location, Thomas plans an infiltration into WICKED and is determined to take them down to save his friends and save civilization. Thomas' friends and the Right Arm agree to help Thomas, as they prepare to fight back.

Cast

• Dylan O'Brien as Thomas
• Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Newt
• Ki Hong Lee as Minho
• Rosa Salazar as Brenda
• Kaya Scodelario as Teresa Agnes
• Jacob Lofland as Aris Jones
• Giancarlo Esposito as Jorge
• Aidan Gillen as Janson
• Dexter Darden as Frypan
• Alexander Flores as Winston
• Barry Pepper as Vince
• Lili Taylor as Mary Cooper
• Alan Tudyk as Marcus
• Patricia Clarkson as Ava Paige
• Nathalie Emmanuel as Harriet
• Katherine McNamara as Sonya

Production

Pre-production

On October 13, 2013, almost a year before The Maze Runner's release, it was reported that Fox had started work on The Scorch Trials. It was revealed that T.S. Nowlin - who recently worked on the Fantastic Four reboot - would adapt Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, taking over the helm from Noah Oppenheim with returning director Wes Ball supervising Nowlin's script.

The early development of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials suggested to many that Fox is confident in the potential success of The Maze Runner. On November 19, 2014, John Paesano was confirmed to return to score the film. Creature designer Ken Barthelmey is returning to design the creatures for the film.

Casting

On September 26, 2014, Aidan Gillen was cast as the main antagonist of the film, Janson, also known as Rat-Man. On September 30, 2014, Rosa Salazar signed on to the cast as Brenda. Within the next few days Mud star Jacob Lofland and Breaking Bad star Giancarlo Esposito joined the cast playing Aris Jones and Jorge respectively. Game of Thrones star Nathalie Emmanuel was cast as Harriet, co-leader of Group B, on October 22, 2014 and Katherine McNamara as the other co-leader on December 22. On November 3, 2014, there were two additions to the cast with Lili Taylor as Mary Cooper, a "doctor who helps Thomas and the Gladers" and Barry Pepper as Vince, "a survivalist who is one of the last remaining soldiers of a legendary unit called the Right Arm".

Filming

On July 25, 2014, Ball announced at San Diego Comic-Con International that they want to start shooting in Fall 2014 should its predecessor become a success when it hits the theatres.

On August 31, 2014, Ball announced they are "about nine weeks out from shooting". He also revealed "we are in New Mexico right now. We’ve got a crew and stages. We are rapidly approaching our shoot time. The sets are being built. A lot of the same crew is coming back. Most of the cast is coming back, except for the ones who were killed [in the first film]. The script is really coming along". A week later, Ball told BuzzFeed that “we’ve got stages, we’ve got crews coming in, Dylan [O’Brien] will be back in a few weeks, we’re building sets, and the script is being written. It’s a bit of a race this time because we’re cautiously optimistic, but we’re feeling excited we’re about to do something that’s way more sophisticated, way more grown up, and really set up a saga here.”

Principal photography commenced on October 27, 2014 in and around Albuquerque, New Mexico. Filming finished on January 27, 2015, lasting 94 days.

Soundtrack

Composed by John Paesano, the soundtrack was released on September 11, 2015.

Release

On August 31, 2014, Ball revealed he is hoping "the movie will be out in about a year". On September 21, 2014, it was announced the film would be released on September 18, 2015 in the United States. With The Maze Runner, the film will be released in Barco's multi-screen immersive movie format Barco Escape in across 25 countries with approximately 20 minutes of the film to be converted into the format.

Marketing

At San Diego Comic-Con International 2014, Ball released the first piece of concept art for the film. Six stills were released on March 11, 2015.

The first official trailer was released on April 23, 2015, at the 20th Century Fox's CinemaCon. However, it was not released online at the same time but the 1 minute and 44 second teaser trailer premiered before Pitch Perfect 2 in May 2015. The trailer was released publicly on May 19, 2015. On July 10, 2015, a 30-minute sneak peek was screened at San Diego Comic Con International, with Ball, Dashner, and O'Brien also at the screening.

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, the film will open simultaneously with the crime films Black Mass and Captive. Preliminary reports predicts the film to open with takings of around $34-36 million, which would be higher than its predecessor's $32.5 million opening. It made $1.7 million from its late night screenings—55% ahead of the first film's $1.1 million—from 2,900 theaters.

The Scorch Trials was released overseas a week before it opened in the U.S. and earned $26.7 million in its opening weekend from 21 markets in 5,586 screens and in all markets, outperforming its predecessor. It debuted at second place at the international box office behind Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. The highest openings came from the U.K., Ireland and Malta ($4.2 million), Mexico ($3.73 million) and Taiwan ($3.49 million). Next weekend the film will open in 41 additional countries alongside the United States and Canada.

Critical response

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials has received mixed reviews from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 49%, based on 94 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The site's critical consensus states, "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials offers an action-packed improvement over its predecessor, although the franchise still stands in the shadow of more successful YA adaptations." Metacritic gives the film a score of 43 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Sequel

In March 2015, it was confirmed that Nowlin, who co-wrote the first and wrote the second film, is set to adapt The Death Cure. Ball confirmed that, if he returns to direct, the film will not be split into two films. On July 9, 2015, it was revealed that filming is set to begin in February 2016. On September 16, 2015, it was confirmed that Ball would return to direct the third film. Maze Runner: The Death Cure is currently planned to be released on February 17, 2017.

External links

• Vorlage:IMDb title
• Vorlage:Box Office Mojo
• Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials bei Rotten Tomatoes (englisch)
• Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials bei Metacritic (englisch)