"Maze Runner 3: The Death Cure" is the third and final installment in the "Maze Runner" movie franchise, which is based on James Dashner's best-selling novels. The film's official release date was already confirmed on February 17, 2017, as Exhibitor Relations wrote on Twitter.
Surprisingly, the movie did not follow the trend of book-to-movie franchises of late. "The Hunger Games," "Harry Potter," "Twilight," and "Divergent" divided the last book into two parts - expanding the story and milking the fandom with two more blockbuster films. "Maze Runner 3," meanwhile, will only be made into one film, as confirmed by Screen Rant.
The "Maze Runner" franchise stars are "Teen Wolf" heartthrob Dylan O'Brien and Kaya Scodelario, who recently got the female lead role in "Pirates of the Caribbean 5" alongside Johnny Depp. The first film was very successful last September that a sequel was immediately announced for the next year.
Now that Wes Ball himself confirmed that "Maze Runner 3" will be told in a single film, fans of the franchise started to wonder how the storyline will go. This is considering that only a few significant details have been left to work with from where the first film, as pointed out by Movie Pilot.
"I think 'three' is the number," Ball told Digital Spy. "Beginning, middle, end - that is it. Four? I think there is something off about 'four.' For me, if I have any say in it, there are three movies, basically. We are not going to split a book in two - no way. I think three movies is the right number."
Some of the changes applied, which included Thomas and Teresa not being able to communicate telepathically, largely affected the storyline of the second movie, "Maze Runner 2: The Scorch Trials." This could only mean that filmmakers might borrow some plot points from the third movie, "The Death Cure," leaving relatively very little to work with for the last book-to-movie adaptation.
It remains unclear how the storyline of the third installment will be told but the franchise also has two prequels for the story. Certain plot points will have to be shifted around the franchise to accommodate the absence of some significant factors when the franchise first hit theaters.
"Maze Runner 2: The Scorch Trials" will hit big screens on September 18, 2015, and "Maze Runner 3: The Death Cure" will be out by February 17, 2017.
