'Maze Runner' sequel scorches North American box office

"Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials" debuted at the top of the box office in its first weekend, with an estimated $30.3 million in ticket sales in North America.

Showing at 3,791 locations, the Fox's young-adult sequel "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials" released below expectations and 7 percent lower than the $32.5 million debut of last year's dystopian sci-fi original, Xinhua reported.

"Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials" opened with $11 million on Friday, increased 11 percent on Saturday to gross $12.25 million and is estimated to decline 42 percent on Sunday to gross $7.05 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

First-night moviegoers gave the sequel a "B+" rating on CinemaScore, which is below the "A-" CinemaScore" rating of the first "The Maze Runner." It received 49 percent positive rate from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Warner Bro.'s "Black Mass" opened in second place with an estimated $23.4 million in box office sales in 3,188 locations. Starring Johnny Depp, the crime drama marks his strongest opening since the launch of "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" back in 2011.

"Black Mass" received a "B" rating from audiences on CinemaScore and a strong 77 percent approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes.

"The Visit" was in third place in its second week of showings with an estimated $11.3 million weekend sales, declining 55 percent from last weekend.

The low-budget M. Night Shyamalan directed horror thriller has grossed $42.4 million in its 10-day of release.

Rounding out the rest of the top 10 movies in the US and Canada this weekend were "The Perfect Guy" ($9.6 million), "Everest" ($7.6 million), "War Room" ($6.3 million), "A Walk In The Woods" ($2.8 million), "Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation" ($2.3 million), "Straight Outta Compton" ($2 million) and "Grandma" ($1.6 million).