Glen Powell-starring "The Running Man" will be "very intense" according to director Edgar Wright

If the name "The Running Man" rings a bell, it's also a name of a movie from 1987 starring superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger.  The movie is a cult classic, in part because it is very silly and very 80s. Wright's upcoming film is based on the same source material, a Stephen-King-as-Richard-Bachman novel of the same name. We stress that it is based on the same source material, because Wright is not making what one might call a remake of the 1987 movie.

The elevator-pitch premise of "The Running Man" is that you go on the titular game show and get hunted down by what are essentially American Gladiators with the intent of killing you. In the 1987 movie the action takes place on what is almost like a giant gameboard and the opposition features some immensely stupid characters like Dynamo. The whole thing has the patina of '80s action in a way that won't be there in a film made in 2025. Wright's sticking more to the book, and that means removing a lot of the game show trappings.

In an interview with Empire, Wright said, "One of the things about the book that I loved was the fact that Ben Richards is out in the world on his own, so it’s like the deadliest game of hide and seek." He then went on to call it "a very intense, dangerous road movie." That's encouraging, became it is primed to remove a lot of the sillier elements of the 1987 version.

Another reason for encouragement is the casting of Powell as Ben Richards. In 2024 he was in "Twisters" and "Hit Man" and continued his ascendancy. Hollywood is looking for new movie stars, and Powell is one of the great hopes. If "The Running Man" is a hit, it'll get Wright back on track, and also potentially solidify Powell's movie star status.

(h/t Empire)