Even diehard fans of the 1987 Running Man, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, can’t be angry about this promising update on its long-teased remake: Edgar Wright is still aboard to direct and produce a new version of the Stephen King novel, and now we know it’ll star the in-demand Glen Powell (Twisters, Anyone But You).
The announcement was made at CinemaCon 2024. According to Deadline, Wright—whose filmography includes Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Baby Driver, and Last Night in Soho—will also produce along with Nira Park and Simon Kinberg (Deadpool 2, multiple X-Men films).
Though this project was first announced in 2021, the timing for the update is spot-on. King published The Running Man in 1982 under his pseudonym Richard Bachman. It takes place in 2025, and follows a man who—with no other means to buy medicine for his sick daughter—joins a hugely popular reality show put on by a government-sponsored TV network. There’s a tempting cash prize… if he can survive being hunted by a team of assassins. The book might be over 40 years old, but those themes (outrageous health care costs, audiences hungry for train-wreck TV, adapting anything and everything King ever wrote) feel just as urgent today.
Are you excited to see what Wright and Powell do with The Running Man? There’s no release date yet, and 2025 feels awfully soon… but that sure would be perfect.
Image: TriStar Pictures