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Maze Runner sequel burns up the B.O.

Young adults turned out for the Maze Runner sequel while teenagers and families embraced Pixels at Australian cinemas last weekend.

In another buoyant frame for Australian films, Last Cab to Darwin and Holding the Man continued to earn tidy sums but See-Saw Films’ James Dean pic Life opened weakly.

Overall, nationwide takings tallied $11.1 million, on par with the previous weekend, according to Rentrak's estimate, and the B.O. for the year to date is around 12 per cent up on 2014.

Fox’s Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, which sees the Gladers searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organisation known as WCKD, rang up $3.5 million and $3.7 million with previews. The 4-day tally is similar to the debut of the original a year ago, which wound up with $16.2 million.

Universal’s Straight Outta Compton dropped by 50 per cent in its second weekend but the NWA biopic directed by F. Gary Gray pocketed a hearty $2.2 million and advanced to $8.3 million.

Proving that Adam Sandler can still draw crowds, Pixels, Sony’s action comedy in which he stars with Brian Cox, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage and Josh Gad, brought in nearly $2 million plus $200,000 in sneeks.

EOne’s A Walk in the Woods, which stars Robert Redford and Nick Nolte as old guys schlepping across the Appalachian Trail, fell by 33 per cent to $334,000, taking $1.1 million in 11 days.

In their third weekends Joel Edgerton’s The Gift (Roadshow) reached $2 million and Jonathan Demme’s Ricki and the Flash (Sony) topped $2.6 million.

A hit for Icon, Jeremy Sims' Last Cab to Darwin fetched $223,000 in its sixth outing and has scored $6.6 million to date.

Distributed by Transmission, Neil Armfield's Holding the Man took $106,000 in its third weekend, down 32 per cent, banking $873,000.

The same distributor launched Anton Corbijn’s Life, which stars Dane DeHaan as James Dean and Robert Pattinson as his photographer friend Dennis Stock, on 21 screens, generating just $27,000.