4 Maze Runner Movie
Kerby Reynolds
The Maze Runner film series consists of North American science-fiction dystopian action adventure films based on The Maze Runner novels by the American author James Dashner. Produced by Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and distributed by 20th Century Fox, the films star Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Dexter Darden, and Patricia Clarkson. Wes Ball directed all three installments.
The film features Thomas, who wakes up trapped in a maze with a group of other boys. He has no memory of the outside world other than dreams about an organization known as WCKD (World Catastrophe Killzone Department). Only by piecing together fragments of his past with clues he discovers in the maze can Thomas hope to uncover his purpose and a way to escape.
Development for the film began in January 2011 when Fox purchased the film rights to Dashner's novel The Maze Runner.[2] Principal photography began in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in May 2013 and ended in July.[3][4] It was released on September 19, 2014.[5]
The film features Thomas and his fellow Gladers as they search for clues about the organization known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD's "vastly superior" forces and uncover its plans for them all.
In the third Maze Runner, Thomas leads his group of escaped Gladers on their final and most dangerous mission yet. To save their friends, they must break into the legendary Last City, a WCKD-controlled safe zone designed to keep people out. They attempt to enter to rescue their friends, seeking answers to the questions the Gladers have been asking since they first arrived in the maze.
In March 2015, T.S. Nowlin, who co-wrote the first and wrote the second film, was hired to write Maze Runner: The Death Cure based on the novel The Death Cure.[9] In September 2015, Ball was hired to direct the film.[10] Ball said that the film would not be split into two films.[11] Principal photography took place in Cape Town, South Africa between March and June 2017 for a January 26, 2018, release.[12][13][14][15]
The Maze Runner trilogy has received a mixed critical response, with the primary source of criticism being the plot and character development, although its performances and action sequences have been praised.
Development of The Maze Runner began in January 2011 when Fox purchased the film rights to Dashner's novel with Gotham Group, Temple Hill Entertainment, TSG Entertainment as producers and Catherine Hardwicke intended to direct. In 2012, Ball was hired to direct the film adaptation after presenting an animated short film titled Ruin with a similar tone and was initially considered for a feature-length adaptation. Principal photography began in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on May 13, 2013, and officially concluded on July 12, 2013.
A teenage boy wakes up inside an underground elevator with no memory of his identity and is greeted by other male youths in a large grass area, called the "Glade", enclosed by giant stone walls. The "Gladers" have formed a rudimentary society, and each assumes specialized tasks. The boy learns that a vast maze surrounding them is the only way out. During the day, designated "Runners" search the maze for an escape route and return before the entrance closes at sunset. After a fight with Gally, the boy remembers his name is Thomas.
Thomas is attacked by Ben, a Runner who has been stung and left delirious by a Griever, one of the biomechanical creatures that roam the maze at night. Ben is forced into the maze by the boys and left to die as there is no cure for his condition.
Alby, the leader, and Minho, the lead Runner, retrace Ben's steps inside the maze the following morning. However, Minho reappears later that afternoon, dragging Alby, who has been stung, and is unable to reach the closing entrance in time. Thomas runs into the maze to help, which leaves all three trapped. Thomas was chased by a Griever but lures it into a closing passageway, crushing it. The three managed to survive the night and returns the next morning.
A girl arrives in the elevator, with a note saying that she is the last one to enter the Glade; she recognizes Thomas, but he cannot remember her. Gally claims that Thomas has jeopardized the fragile peace between the Gladers and the Grievers, and wants him punished. However, Newt, the group's second-in-command, instead designates Thomas as a Runner. Thomas, Minho, Frypan, Winston, and Zart enter the maze to locate the Griever corpse and remove a mechanical device from inside it. Minho shows Thomas a model of the maze based on previous explorations and explains that numbered sections open and close in a regular sequence Thomas realizes that the device corresponds to a section of the maze.
The girl, Teresa, has two syringes filled with Griever anti-venom. One is used on Alby, and he recovers from the Griever sting. Minho and Thomas venture back into the maze with the device and discover a possible exit. Several traps are activated, forcing them to leave.
Later that night, the maze entrance does not close, and other doors open, allowing Grievers to enter the Glade. Alby, Zart, Clint, and several other Gladers are killed and Gally blames Thomas for everything. Thomas, who has been having disconnected memory flashes since his arrival, stabs himself with a severed Griever stinger in an attempt to revive his memory before he is injected with the last anti-venom. Unconscious, Thomas recalls that he and Teresa worked for the organization that created the maze, WCKD, and the boys unknowingly have been test subjects for an experiment. He awakens and reveals his retrieved background.
Gally, having taken command, intends to sacrifice Thomas and Teresa to the Grievers to restore peace. However, several Gladers free them and enter the maze, but Gally and a few others refuse to leave. Jeff and several other Gladers are killed by Grievers before the rest enters the exit.
The Gladers eventually enter a laboratory strewn with corpses. In a video recording, Ava Paige, a WCKD scientist, explains that the planet was devastated by a massive solar flare, followed by a deadly pandemic caused by the Flare virus. The group learns that they were part of an experiment intended to develop a cure. Paige shoots herself in the video as the lab is overtaken by armed personnel. Gally, having been stung by a Griever, insists that they will never be free, before firing a gun at Thomas. Minho impales Gally with a spear, but he fatally shoots Chuck. While Thomas mourns over Chuck, masked armed men rush in and take the group into a helicopter. It flies over a vast desert wasteland and approaches a ruined city.
On January 4, 2011, it was announced that 20th Century Fox had obtained the rights to a film adaptation of The Maze Runner by James Dashner, with Catherine Hardwicke attached to direct.[3] On August 23, 2012 Wes Ball was confirmed to direct the film, with Gotham Group as producers.[4] Ball produced an animated science fiction post-apocalyptic short film, titled Ruin, and presented the short in 3D to 20th Century Fox. The studio initially considered a film adaptation of the short film, as it had the same tone of The Maze Runner novel they already planned to bring to the screen. Ball was then offered the chance to direct the novel adaptation.[5]
In late 2012, director Wes Ball hired creature designer Ken Barthelmey to design the Grievers. Impressed by Barthelmey's test design, Ball asked him to add a mechanical scorpion tail. Barthelmey's inspirations for the Grievers included coconut crabs, caterpillars and piranhas. Barthelmey also worked on several Maze, Beetle Blade (cut from the film), and Crank designs.[6]
For the role of Teresa, Kaya Scodelario was Ball's first choice as she was "fantastic" and because he loved her in the TV show Skins. Dylan O'Brien, the lead role, was initially rejected by Ball. Ball recounts, "Dylan was actually... I saw him early on, very early on and I overlooked him. It was a big learning experience there because I overlooked him because of his hair. He had Teen Wolf hair and I couldn't see past that and so we were looking for our Thomas and it's a tough role to make because he comes in as a boy and he leaves as a man, so it can't be like this badass action star that comes into this movie. It's about vulnerability upfront and then he comes out of it and comes into his own and then the next movies are about the leader that emerges from the group. So finally Fox says 'We just did this movie, The Internship. There's this kid that's in this thing. He's like 20 years old. We think he's kind of got something.' So I watched his tape and was like 'Wait a minute, I've seen this kid before.' I looked him up online and there was one picture of him with a totally shaved head and it's this sweet vulnerable-looking kid and I was like 'Whoa, interesting.' I said, 'Wait a minute, he's just so familiar and I looked back at my old audition tapes, which we had thousands of, and there's Dylan. That guy I said 'No, definitely not him.' So we brought him back in and we started to talk with him and I'm like 'he's the coolest dude ever.'" Blake Cooper entered the film via Twitter. Ball revealed a lot on Twitter, and many kids wanted to be Chuck. Cooper constantly bugged Ball, until Ball told him to give his tape to his casting director, and Ball was impressed by Cooper's tape and cast him.[5]
Eleven character cards for the film were released in July 2013. Starting in January 2014, director Wes Ball released one image from the film once a week, leading up to the film's first trailer released on March 17, 2014.[13] A viral marketing campaign launched by 20th Century Fox began on April 16, 2014. The campaign is a website featuring the main characters while focusing on WCKD, an organization in Dashner's novel series of the same name. The website has the domain wckdisgood.com.[14]
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