The sci-fi action film The Maze Runner sprinted into first place at the North American box office last weekend, earning $32.5 million on its debut, industry figures show.

The Fox production, based on James Dashner's eponymous best-selling 2007 young adult novel, is the latest studio offering depicting teenagers struggling for survival in a dystopian future society.

Like the blockbuster Hunger Games and Divergent series films, The Maze Runner, which stars Dylan O'Brien as a teenager trying to escape from a complex labyrinth, is based on a trilogy.