In the nearly 30 years that Edgar Wright has been making movies, we’ve seen him breathe new life into the zombie film genre, turn beloved graphic novels into cult classics, give the world one of the most inventive heist films of the century, and so much more. And now, Wright is about to turn his attention to one of the craziest dystopian action thrillers with his upcoming Stephen King adaptation, The Running Man.
The man behind modern classics like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz is about to adapt The Running Man for the big screen, and we have all the details. From its A-lister lead actor to how it will be different from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie with its over-the-top futuristic outfits and so much more, here’s everything we know about The Running Man.
What Is The Running Man Release Date?
As much as we would love to shout “It’s time to start running!” like we’re Damon Killian in Paul Michael Glaser’s The Running Man, the truth is Paramount Pictures has not yet announced a release date for Edgar Wright’s upcoming book-to-screen adaptation.
The studio also hasn’t revealed its plans for the film’s production, so it would be hard to imagine it coming out at any point on the 2024 movie calendar. If we were to guess, this has Summer 2025 written all over it, which is quite fitting as the original novel was set in a dystopian version of that year.
The Running Man Cast Includes Glen Powell
There was a lot of big news that came out of Paramount Pictures’ CinemaCon panel in April 2024. In addition to hearing a great deal about the upcoming A Quiet Place: Day One and Ridley Scott’s long-awaited Gladiator 2, those in attendance, like CinemaBlend’s Sean O’Connell learned that the extremely in-demand Glen Powell would be leading The Running Man cast. Powell will be taking on the role of Ben Richards, the character famously played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1987 adaptation of Stephen King’s satirical dystopian thriller.
Powell’s casting is the latest in a series of high-profile projects for the on-the-rise star after he became a household name thanks to his portrayal of Jake “Hangman” Seresin in 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick. Here recently, he has popped up in military dramas like Devotion and uber-successful romantic comedies like Anyone but You. Powell is also set to appear in Hit Man and Twisters in Summer 2024.
At this time, no other additions to The Running Man cast have been announced, but we can expect that to change in the coming weeks and months.
The Running Man Is Based On The Stephen King Book About A Man Trying To Survive A Deadly Game Show
For those who have never read the book or watched the 1987 film based on it, The Running Man is set in a dystopian future where people participate, or survive, a dangerous and deadly game show where they are pitted against powerful and oftentimes ridiculous “Hunters” (“Stalkers” in the movie) in what can best be described as a Stephen King version of American Gladiators.
When Deadline reported on Glen Powell’s casting in April 2024, the outlet described the novel as a chase thriller, which is admittedly a great description of the story, as so many of the memorable scenes are those where Ben Richards, the desperate protagonist, is running from the diabolical enemies.
Edgar Wright Has Said His Version Of The Running Man Will Be Faithful To Stephen King’s 1982 Novel Of The Same Name
Though the 1987 version of The Running Man is considered one of the best Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, it’s not really a faithful adaptation of the 1982 Stephen King (written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman) novel, at least in the eyes of Edgar Wright. When speaking with the Happy Sad Confused podcast in December 2023, the filmmaker revealed that he never really saw the original movie as an adaptation, stating:
The Running Man is something that is in active development. Why is that interesting to me? It’s like, I like the film but I like the book more, and they didn’t really adapt the book. Even as a teenager when I saw the Schwarzenegger film I was like, ‘Oh, this isn’t like the book at all!’ And I think, ‘Nobody’s done that book.’
Though he didn’t provide any details as to how his version will be a more faithful outing than what came before, Wright would go on to say that The Running Man novel was “something crying out to be adapted.”
Edgar Wright Has Been Developing The Running Man Since 2021
Edgar Wright has been one of the busiest names in show business for the past few years thanks to film projects like Last Night in Soho and The Sparks Brothers, TV shows like the Netflix animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, and various other creative endeavors. And during that same stretch of time, Wright has been actively developing his adaptation of The Running Man. Back in February 2021, Deadline reported that Wright was working with Paramount Pictures to make a new movie based on Stephen King’s novel.
No timeline was provided at the time, but more than three years passed between the initial announcement and the April 2024 news of Glen Powell serving as the film’s lead.
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World Screenwriter Michael Bacall Co-Wrote The Running Man With Edgar Wright
Back in February 2021, when word began to spread that Edgar Wright was working on adapting The Running Man, it was also reported that one of his collaborators was helping make the dream become a reality. According to Variety, Michael Bacall, who co-wrote Scott Pilgrim vs. the World with Wright more than a decade earlier, was helping the filmmaker adapt the 219-page novel into a film.
Bacall, who has acting credits for movies like This Boy’s Life, Inglourious Basterds, and The End of Love, has written a handful of great scripts over the years, including the aforementioned Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, 21 Jump Street (and its 2014 sequel), and Project X, to name a few.
This Version Of The Running Man Is Not Associated With Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Alleged Attempts At Making A Sequel To His 1987 Adaptation
You might have been able to figure it out by now, but Edgar Wright’s The Running Man is in no way connected to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s alleged attempts to get a remake in the works for his 1987 dystopian classic. Back in November 2014, Digital Spy reported that the iconic action star spoke at a London Q&A session where he said there were “rumblings of a new Running Man movie,” and that it was “a great honor to be asked back.”
Schwarzenegger never elaborated on his comments at the time, but years later, in 2022, Giant Freakin Robot reported that the actor who first played Ben Richards back in 1987 was reportedly actively developing The Running Man 2. Though fans may have been hopeful at the time, there haven’t been any further updates since.
There are still quite a few things we don’t know about the new adaptation of The Running Man but expect to hear more in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, now would be a good time to go back and revisit some of Edgar Wright’s best movies.