'The Maze Runner' Finale 'The Death Cure' Won't Be Split Into Two Movies
One of the trends that I almost included in my list of 9 current movie and television trends I hate is when Hollywood decides to split the last book in a series of film adaptations in two (or in the case of The Hobbit, in three). Sure, sometimes a book is huge, like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and you would think that the only way to bring the story to the screen is to allow enough time so that its not hacked to its core. But often its more of a money grab from Hollywood (remember, its the show BUSINESS — why have one successful movie when you can squeeze it into two?), and even the case of long books (like Hallows) they end up feeling like half a story and the result is less satisfying than a movie with a full story arc.
Well Wes Ball is currently adapting The Maze Runner book series into movies, and the first film was very successful (over $200 million worldwide) and warrants a follow up. The Scorch Trials will hit theaters on September 18th 2015, with plans to hopefully complete the young-adult post-apocalyptic science fiction trilogy of books by James Dashner. Now director Wes Ball has come out publicly saying he isn't planning to split the third book into two films. Find out the reason why The Death Cure movie adaptation will remain one film, after the jump.
The Maze Runner/The Scorch Trials director Wes Ball told the following to Digital Spy:
"I think three is the number; beginning, middle, end, that's it. Four? I think there's something off about four. For me, if I have any say in it, there's three movies basically. We're not going to [split a book in two], no way. I think three movies is the right number, Star Wars!"
That said, I enjoyed The Maze Runner but almost wish the first book were a series of television. I don't think we got enough time to fully enjoy the situation at hand and explore the characters and mysteries. For me, it all happened so quickly. I'm not someone who has read the books but I'm glad that Ball will not be splitting the third book into two films.
Starring Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Will Poulter, and Aml Ameen, The Maze Runner follows a group of kids living in a mysterious expanse surrounded by an impenetrable maze. The maze opens up during the daytime and closes at night allowing the walls to shift into new configurations. The first "glader" emerged into the Glade and maze three years ago, and a new glader has appeared once a month since then. In The Maze Runner, a final "glader" emerges, the first girl to ever rise from the elevator shaft — Teresa (played by Kaya Scodelario).
The second book, The Scorch Trials (warning spoilers follow) continues to tell the story, following the kids who have escaped the maze and must now "face an even more treacherous challenge on the open roads of a devastated planet." The third book, The Death Cure, brings the story to a conclusion.