This interesting article talked about the kickoff of
a brand new young adult franchise on the big screen- "The Maze
Runner". The story of a group of teenagers struggling to survive in a
deadly labyrinth, not know who they were or why they are there. This movie
debuted at an impressive $81.5 million dollars globally, and one has to wonder,
how did a relatively unknown film franchise do so well, in comparison to giant,
successful film franchises like "The Hunger Games" and Twilight? The
secret may be- a male protagonist? “It’s
the first YA franchise that has a male protagonist,” said Chris Aronson,
domestic distribution chief for 20th Century Fox. I assume he is talking in
terms of the last two years of young adult films, which have been mostly
dominated by female protagonists, for example, "Divergent", "The
Hunger Games", and "Twilight". Interestingly enough, this male
protagonist was inventive enough to attract roughly an equal number of men and
women to theaters. Appealing to men certainly helped out the massive
"Hunger Games" franchise, which had an opening crowd that was 39%
male.
Another aspect that may
have contributed to the film's success is the fact that the movie was marketed
as an action heavy thriller. This helped it stand out from the slew of
dystopian young adult adventures flooding the theaters. Taking immediate advantage
of the surprise success, Fox subsequently announced a sequel, "Maze
Runner: Scorch Trials", which will open in fall of 2015.
“I don’t know what the batting average
is for other genres, but young adult films are a relatively new thing and they
may just be having more attention paid to them,” said Ben Carlson, co-creator
of the social media tracking service Fizziology. “If you compare it to science
fiction or R-rated comedies, it’s probably a similar batting average.” I can be
hard to make any movie really stand out in the age of Twitter, Youtube, and
other entertainments.
One thing we know for certain- "The
Maze Runner" franchise will certainly grow to become a formidable
contender in the growing genre of Young Adult films.
Lang, B. (2014, September 21). How 'Maze Runner' Escaped the Young Adult Franchise Curse. Retrieved January 9, 2015, from http://variety.com/2014/film/news/maze-runner-box-office-young-adult-franchise-1201310300/
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