HOLLYWOOD—It was an interesting battle at the box-office this weekend as new releases “The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” and “Black Mass” went toe-to-toe with moviegoers. In the end, it was the sequel, “The Scorch Trials”, that rose to the top with $30.3 million. That is slightly below what its predecessor earned in 2014 with $32.5 million.

With a decent debut was Johnny Depp’s crime thriller “Black Mass” with $23.4 million to land in second place. The movie is generating a bit of buzz to become a possible contender for awards season. That means the movie will have to keep the interest of audiences in the coming weeks. If it drops more than 50 percent this coming week, that is not a good sign.

Proving that his latest thriller has audiences hooked is M. Night Shymalan’s “The Visit” which added another $11.4 million to its tally to claim third place. Seems word-of-mouth buzz is indeed working for the film. Last week’s box-office champion “The Perfect Guy” took a bit of a tumble landing in fourth place with $9.7 million. After 2 weeks, the thriller has already grossed over $40 million at the domestic box-office.

Rounding out the top five was the exploratory flick “Everest” with an impressive $7.6 million. The film doesn’t officially open nationwide until September 25.