NORTH AMERICA: ‘The Maze Runner’ Runs Past the $40M Mark After Strong Thursday Hold

Fox’s The Maze Runner took in $1.98 million on Thursday to lead the daily box office for a seventh consecutive day. The modestly budgeted young adult adaptation was up a healthy 12 percent over Wednesday. It should be noted that family films and films that appeal to family audiences experienced strong holds in general on Thursday due to the Rosh Hashanah holiday. The Maze Runner was easily the week’s top film with a strong seven-day start of $40.52 million. That was 20 percent stronger than the $33.75 million seven-day take of last year’s Ender’s GameThe Maze Runner has also displayed relatively strong holding power throughout the week.

Warner’s This Is Where I Leave You grossed $0.98 million to remain in second. The modestly budgeted comedy starring Jason Bateman and Tina Fey increased 4 percent over Wednesday’s performance. This Is Where I Leave You took third place for the week with a seven-day start of $15.55 million. That is towards the lower end of the film’s modest expectations and places the film 20 percent behind the $19.53 million seven-day start of 2011’s The Change-Up.

Fellow Warner Bros. release Dolphin Tale 2 was up three spots and a terrific 150 percent from Wednesday with a third place take of $0.87 million. Thanks to Rosh Hashanah, the family sequel experienced the day’s best daily percentage hold by a sizable margin. Dolphin Tale 2 placed in fifth for the week with $10.77 million. That represented a 40 percent decline from the film’s opening week performance and brings the film’s two-week total to a respectable $28.83 million.

On the other hand, Universal’s A Walk Among the Tombstones was down one spot and a sharp 18 percent from Wednesday with a fourth place gross of $0.75 million. The action thriller starring Liam Neeson appears to have taken a clear hit from the late night launch of Sony’s The Equalizer on Thursday night. A Walk Among the Tombstones placed in second for the week with a seven-day start of $16.64 million. That is below expectations and places the film a lackluster 34 percent behind the $25.26 million seven-day take of 2012’s The Grey.

Sony’s No Good Deed was down one spot and a slim 3 percent from Wednesday to round out Thursday’s top five with $0.51 million. After a stronger than expected opening week performance, the low-budget thriller starring Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson was down a sharp 59.5 percent to place in fourth for the week with $12.12 million. Despite the decline this week, No Good Deed is still performing well with a two-week take of $42.02 million.

Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy followed closely behind in sixth with $0.48 million. The blockbuster sci-fi superhero film from Marvel was up 25 percent over Wednesday. The film placed in sixth for the week with $6.91 million. Guardians of the Galaxy has grossed a massive $315.40 million through eight weeks of release, which leaves the film just $3.01 million away from reaching the $318.41 million final unadjusted domestic gross of 2008’s Iron Man.

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