Why We Should All Stop Asking If 'The Maze Runner' Is The New 'Hunger Games'

It’s a question you probably hear on a near daily basis. “Is this the new that?” “Is that the new this?” We’re always searching for the new something trying to replace a good thing we already have. That’s what springs to mind when we keep hearing the question, Is The Maze Runner going to be the new Hunger Games? It reminds us of that time we asked if The Hunger Games was the new Twilight. It wasn’t (it was better).

Will The Maze Runner enjoy as much success as The Hunger Games?

So, let’s take a look at the two franchises separately. Starring Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games has surpassed all expectations of how popular it would become. Adapted from the young adult novels, the basic story is set in dystopian America and revolves around Katniss Everdeen, played by Lawrence.

MORE: OK, so The Maze Runner is the next Divergent, Hunger Games etc

Katniss is picked as tribute to take part in the annual Hunger Games, a televised game show/death match, in which children are pitted against each other in a fight to the death. There’s a lot of action, a lot of bloodshed and a lot of girl power.

The Maze Runner, due to come out this September, tells the story of Thomas, who wakes up to find himself and a group of other boys stuck in ‘The Glade’, surrounded by a gigantic maze. With no memory of what happened before he woke up, he must piece together clues he finds in the maze with fragments of his own memories. The maze, their only route of escape, is stuffed full of dangerous creatures who you certainly wouldn’t want to run into in a dark…maze.

The Maze Runner stars Dylan O'Brien from Teen Wolf

Like The Hunger Games, there’s going to be a whole lot of action in The Maze Runner. Revolving around a group of young people in a fight to survive has become a pretty popular formula in young adult novels, which both are based on. We also saw it in another adaption of a young adult novel, Shailene Woodley’s recent film Divergent, although that film certainly failed to win over critics and moviegoers in the same way as The Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games, starring Jennifer Lawrence (pictured), has been hugely successful

We have every hope that The Maze Runner will be successful. The trailer is pretty thrilling and it’s got a great, ambiguous and interesting storyline. Let’s just hope that, unlike Maleficent, which was also as eagerly anticipated, The Maze Runner lives up to its own hype.

But will it be the ‘new’ Hunger Games? Who cares really? We already have one great Hunger Games, who needs another one?  Rather, let's all enjoy it for what it is.  Something that's kind of similar but will hopefully bring lots of totally new and different things to the table.

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