'Maze Runner' tops any Eagles runner, scores at box office

"The Maz Runner: The Scorch Trials" edged out "Black Mass" at the box office on the first weekend of the fall movie season.

20th Century Fox's sequel to "The Maze Runner" earned an estimated $30.3 million, according to studio estimates yesterday. Although that came in slightly below the debut of the 2014 young-adult dystopian sci-fi original, it counted as a win for a movie that cost $61 million to make.

Warner Bros.' "Black Mass," starring Johnny Depp as Boston gangster Whitey Bulger, premiered with $23.4 million. That's a strong sum for an R-rated adult drama, and it stabilizes a bad box-office run for Depp following "Mortdecai," "Transcendence" and "The Lone Ranger."

(Ten out of 10 Eagles fans who watched yesterday's game against the Cowboys said they would rather have watched "Mortdecai.")

Of the audience for "The Scorch Trials," 63 percent was below age 25, according to Fox, while 89 percent of the audience for "Black Mass" was over 25, according to Warner Bros.

(The audience for Eagles-Cowboys was 100 percent nauseated, according to Tattle.)

Universal's 3-D mountaineering thriller "Everest," starring Josh Brolin and Jason Clarke, opened with $7.6 million, playing only on 545 IMAX and large-format screens. It expands wide next weekend.

"Sicario," the Lionsgate drug-war thriller starring Emily Blunt, Brolin and Benicio Del Toro, opened in New York and Los Angeles ahead of its expansion over the next two weeks. In just six theaters, it took in $390,000 with an excellent per-screen average of $65,000.

Paramount Pictures' "Captive," starring David Oyelowo and Kate Mara, struggled to find moviegoers - and more important, moviegoers struggled to find it. It finished 11th with $1.4 million.

M. Night Shyamalan's "The Visit" finished third in its second weekend with $11.3 million.

* Megan Fox will guest-star in a recurring role next season on "New Girl."

Fox will play a gorgeous pharmaceutical sales rep who shakes things up in the loft by renting out the room of Jess (Zooey Deschanel) while she is sequestered on jury duty. Fox will make her first appearance in the sixth episode of the upcoming fifth season, scheduled to premiere in January on the Fox network.

Fox is best known from her hit films, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and "Transformers."

Uh, no, she's best known for being Megan Fox.

* The Who announced Friday that it was postponing all 50 dates of "The Who Hits 50!" tour this fall because 71-year-old lead singer Roger Daltrey has contracted viral meningitis. He's feeling better, but says he's under doctors' orders to rest.

Guitarist Pete Townshend said the band is rescheduling the tour for next spring.

* A soundtrack ranging from Mozart to "Motownphilly" has been created by a Notre Dame professor for Pope Francis' upcoming visit to the United States.

The streaming music service Spotify reached out to Tim O'Malley, director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, for his pope playlist. O'Malley responded with 53 songs for 3 1/2 hours of music.

Many of the songs are hymns and psalms that will be sung at liturgies that Pope Francis will preside over starting tomorrow when he arrives in Washington, D.C.

But there are also tunes that reference his U.S. destinations: Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia," Boyz II Men's "Motownphilly" and Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind."

Tattle might add "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin, "The Air That I Breathe" by the Hollies and "Can't Buy Me Love" by the Beatles.

Pope Francis' U.S. visit runs tomorrow through Sunday, with stops in Washington, Philadelphia and New York.

Philly? OMG! The pope is coming to Philly?

- Daily News wire services contributed to this report.