‘The Maze Runner’ Enlists Will Poulter and Surges in the Race for Dystopian Domination

March 6, 2013

By Christine Spines

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Will Poulter/Photo © Featureflash/Shutterstock

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Hollywood’s dystopian treasure hunt is now in full swing. After “The Hunger Games” yielded $408 million in box office spoils, studios are scrambling to be the first to serve up a cinematic meal that satisfies that cross-generational audience hungry for more high-stakes post-apocalyptic adventure placing a group of plucky teens in peril.

It now looks like the upcoming adaptation of James Dashner’s The Maze Runner has made significant strides to challenge its competition, with yesterday’s announcement that “Chronicles of Narnia” star Will Poulter has boarded the elevator down into the film’s labyrinthine underworld. Poulter will play the bestselling book’s protagonist, Thomas, a memory-wiped teen who lands among a group of sixty boys who have spent two years learning to survive in an alternate reality known as “the glade,” which takes the form of a maze from which there is seemingly no escape. Thomas takes it upon himself to re-examine clues and gather the information necessary to attempt to lead the pack of lost boys out of captivity.

Dashner’s trilogy possesses many of the same elements that made “The Hunger Games” a literary phenomenon that translated seamlessly into a worldwide blockbuster. It’s packed with violent and suspenseful action sequences that place a bunch of underage warriors under constant threat. However, what sets The Maze Runner apart from other series of its kind is the cerebral problem solving it requires of its characters, not to mention readers and viewers.

This project is now hot on the heels of its primary competition, director Neil Burger’s adaptation of Veronica Roth’s futuristic YA bestseller, Divergent. That project, about a teen girl who flees an oppressive society to join a resistance movement, took an early lead to fill the “Hunger Games” void by rounding up a top-notch cast that includes Shailene Woodley (“The Descendants”) and Kate Winslet in leading roles. Burger, who wrote and directed “The Illusionist,” the well regarded but little-seen film about dueling turn-of-the-century magicians, is also more of a known entity than Wes Ball, a visual effects designer who will be making his directorial debut with “The Maze Runner.”

At this point, it’s tough to call which film will best position itself to harness the box office firepower of “The Hunger Games.” Beyond the quality of the filmmaking and crucial casting decisions, release dates will play a significant role in determining the difference between a robust Potter-esque franchise and a missed opportunity like the lamentable “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief” or “The Golden Compass.” With “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” due in theaters on November 22 of this year, the question remains whether enough time will have elapsed for audiences to build up a hearty appetite for more underage destruction by the time “The Maze Runner” unspools on Valentine’s Day of 2014 and “Divergent” debuts on March 21.

What are your thoughts on the enduring appeal of dystopian teen adventure sagas? Which film do you think stands the best shot at capturing the popular imagination?

Tags: Divergent, Kate Winslet, Shailene Woodley, The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, Will Poulter