If you love Stephen King’s works and the movies based on his books, prepare yourselves for another one. The Running Man will be adapted once again as a movie. And as per the latest update, Edgar Wright has joined the development team as the director. Wright is known for his work as a producer, director, and a writer in films like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World(2010) and Baby Driver(2017).
Stephen King and The Running Man
Obviously it is not the first time King’s work became a plot for movies and tv series. His novels like The Shining, Carrie, The Stand, and It were adapted for viewers. All of them have fared well at the box office. King wrote The Running Man in 1982 under the pen-name Richard Bachman to test if he could reproduce his success and that his fame was not accidental.
In case of The Running Man, it was adapted once in 1987 and Arnold Schwarzenegger played the lead role. It also starred Richard Dawson, Maria Conchita Alonso, and Jesse Venture. The movie got a mixed response but King expressed his dislike for it. His reasons were that the movie kept very little from the novel. Secondly, he did not like Schwarzenegger playing the lead.
The Plot of The Running Man Book
The story of the novel takes place in 2025 dystopian United States, where the economy has collapsed. Ben Richards is struggling to find work because of being blacklisted. His daughter Cathy is very sick and his wife Sheila has no choice but to become a prostitute. Seeing the condition of his family, Ben goes to the Games Network. This company is run by the government and is known for its “violent” game shows.
Post the interview, physical tests, and mental tests, Ben is selected for the most popular game “The Running Man”. As per the game, he becomes an enemy of the state and gets a 12 hour head start to run. After the said time, the game makers send the hunters and a came of cat and mouse begins. Ben has to survive for as long as thirty days to claim the big prize, or just enough to aid his family.
The Team for the Remake
Edgar Wright said in 2017 that if he had to remake a movie, it would be The Running Man. His recent documentary The Sparks Brothers(2021) is getting good reviews, and his another work Last Night in Soho is yet to come. Paramount Pictures will be developing the film with Michel Bacall as the screenwriter who is known for 21 Jump Street(2012) and 22 Jump Street(2014).
Bacall also worked with Wright before in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. As producers, Simon Kinberg from Genre Films would be joining Audrey Chon. Nira Park, from Wright’s production house Complete Fiction will also co produce the movie. As per the team, the new movie would be more faithful to the original novel.
Stay tuned with Stanford Arts Review for more updates!
