{"id":128141,"date":"2025-11-10T17:02:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T17:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/128141\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T17:02:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T17:02:07","slug":"the-running-mans-final-trailer-amps-up-the-high-octane-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/128141\/","title":{"rendered":"The Running Man\u2019s final trailer amps up the high-octane action"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s shaping up to be an excellent season for Stephen King adaptations. In September, we got The Long Walk, an excellent (though harrowing) adaptation of King\u2019s 1979 Richard Bachman novel. Last month, HBO debuted its new series IT: Welcome to Derry, which explores the mythology and origins of Pennywise the killer clown. And this Friday is the premiere of The Running Man<\/a>, director Edgar Wright\u2019s (Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver, Last Night in Soho) take on King\u2019s novel of the same name. So naturally Paramount has released a final trailer to lure us to the theater.<\/p>\n

As previously reported<\/a>, the 1987 action film starring Schwarzenegger was only loosely based on King\u2019s novel, preserving the basic concept and very little else in favor of more sci-fi gadgetry and high-octane action. It was a noisy, entertaining romp\u2014and very late \u201980s\u2014but it lacked King\u2019s subtler satirical tone. Wright expressed interest in adapting his own version of The Running Man in 2017, and Paramount greenlit the project four years later. Wright and co-screenwriter Michael Bacall envisioned their film as less of a remake and more of a faithful adaptation of King\u2019s original novel. (We\u2019ll see if that faithfulness extends to the novel\u2019s bleak ending.)<\/p>\n

Per the official premise:<\/p>\n

In a near-future society, The Running Man is the top-rated show on television\u2014a deadly competition where contestants, known as Runners, must survive 30 days while being hunted by professional assassins, with every move broadcast to a bloodthirsty public and each day bringing a greater cash reward. Desperate to save his sick daughter, working-class Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is convinced by the show\u2019s charming but ruthless producer, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), to enter the game as a last resort. But Ben\u2019s defiance, instincts, and grit turn him into an unexpected fan favorite\u2014and a threat to the entire system. As ratings skyrocket, so does the danger, and Ben must outwit not just the Hunters, but a nation addicted to watching him fall.<\/p>\n

In addition to Powell and Brolin, the cast includes Lee Pace as lead Hunter Evan McCone; Jayme Lawson as Ben\u2019s wife, Sheila; Colman Domingo as Bobby Thompson, game show host; Michael Cera as the rebel Bradley Throckmorton; William H. Macy as a man who aids Ben; David Zayas as Richard Manuel; Emilia Jones as Amelia, a hostage civilian; Karl Glusman as a Hunter; and Katy O\u2019Brian and Daniel Ezra as two other contestants on the show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s shaping up to be an excellent season for Stephen King adaptations. In September, we got The Long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-128141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}