2014’s The Maze Runner was one of the few dystopian blockbusters that outgrew its YA label for its gritty, tightly paced, and surprisingly adult tone. Now, more than a decade after its release, the film has found a new streaming home on Netflix as it was officially added to the U.S. catalog on October 9, 2025. Within just two to three days of its return, the film has surged to #2 on Netflix’s U.S. Top 10, marking its most significant resurgence since its theatrical debut.
While all three films from The Maze Runner franchise were made available on Netflix on the same date, the debut installment, for now, is the only one with a major come up on the charts. Unlike many of its peers that leaned on spectacle, Wes Ball’s film starring Teen Wolf’s Dylan O’Bvrien in the titular role stripped the apocalypse down to claustrophobic precision, a maze, a memory-wiped protagonist, and a primal need to escape. That minimalist intensity clearly seems to have aged gracefully, making it a perfect algorithmic bait for Netflix’s recommendation engine.
The film holds a 66% Tomatometer score from 172 critics and a 68% audience score from over 50,000 ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. Back in 2014, the film turned its $34 million budget into a global hit, grossing $348.3 million worldwide, including $102.4 million domestic and $245.9 million international. That’s more than ten times its production cost, an extraordinary yield even by pre-streaming blockbuster standards. Combined, those numbers explain why its October 2025 Netflix arrival isn’t just a nostalgic revival, and the charts speak for themselves. In addition to Netflix, The Maze Runner is also trending on iTunes.
‘The Maze Runner’ Sequels Might Follow If Algorithmic Bait Catches On
The success of The Maze Runner on Netflix has laid a strong financial foundation for its sequels, and the data suggests that the ripple effect might carry once again. The Scorch Trials built on the original’s global momentum, had earned $312.3 million worldwide on a $61 million budget about a decade ago. At the same time, The Death Cure, the third installment, also followed with $288.2 million from a slightly higher $62 million spend.
Though diminishing returns were visible by the trilogy’s end, those figures still placed the franchise’s combined box office north of $948 million, making it one of the most profitable dystopian sagas of its era. Now, with the first installment charting at #2 on Netflix and maintaining strong iTunes traction, historical patterns suggest that renewed interest could cascade to its sequels on streaming in the coming days, especially considering all three films were made available on Netflix on the same date.
The Maze Runner Trilogy is now streaming on Netflix. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates!
