The Long Walk was released in the United States by Lionsgate on September 12, 2025. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised its performances. The film has grossed $54 million worldwide on a budget of $20 million.
Plot
In an alternate 20th century, the United States is a totalitarianmilitary regime following a devastating war. The regime has established an annual event, The Long Walk, which aims to inspire patriotism and work ethic among the destitute, as the country is in the grips of a severe economic depression. Fifty teenage boys, one from each state, are chosen randomly, given water and rations, and must walk hundreds of miles nonstop while escorted by armed soldiers who also broadcast the event. Those who fall below 3 miles per hour (4.8km/h) or stop walking receive up to three warnings before being executed. The Walk ends when there is only one survivor remaining, who receives a large cash prize and can have one wish fulfilled. Although the sign-up is technically voluntary, nearly all eligible young men do so every year in the hope of improving their families' lives.
Raymond "Ray" Garraty, the year's participant from Maine, is driven to the starting line near the Maine-Canada border by his mother Ginnie, who begs him to back out. Ray refuses and meets the other participants, including Peter "Pete" McVries, Billy Stebbins, Arthur "Art" Baker, Collie Parker, Gary Barkovitch, Hank Olson, and Richard Harkness. The Major, a mysterious official who oversees the regime's death squads, starts the Walk and greets the boys from time to time as they proceed southward.
During the first day, Ray gets to know the other walkers and forms a close bond with Pete. A boy named Thomas Curley is the first to be killed, after he develops a charley horse in his leg. Barkovitch is shunned by the group for provoking another walker named Rank into attacking him, resulting in Rank's execution.
As the Walk continues, Pete says he wants to use his wish to improve the world. Ray wants to wish for a rifle to kill the Major as revenge for his father's execution over political opposition. Pete tries to talk Ray out of it, admits that he cannot let someone die to win, and intends to sit down once he has had enough. More walkers die as the days pass, including Harkness. Hank becomes delirious and tries to attack the soldiers, but they shoot him and let him bleed to death. After learning he was married, the boys vow to send money to his widow. Guilt over Rank's death and his exclusion from the pact leads Barkovitch to beg to join. Soon after Ray agrees, Barkovitch has a mental breakdown and fatally stabs himself in the throat with a spoon.
Only Ray, Pete, Stebbins, Art, and Collie remain. While walking through his hometown of Freeport, Ray spots Ginnie and runs to her, apologizing for competing. He is almost killed for stepping off the road, but is saved by Pete. Collie, driven to insanity, steals a rifle and shoots a soldier, then kills himself after being wounded by the others. Art develops an internal hemorrhage and thanks Pete and Ray for being his friends before stopping. Stebbins, who has fallen ill, reveals to Ray and Pete that he is one of the Major's many illegitimate sons, and he intended to use his wish to be accepted as his son. He tells the pair it was an honor to walk with them before stopping, leaving Ray and Pete as the final two walkers.
After five days and well over 300 miles of walking, the pair arrives at a large city, where a big crowd has gathered to see who will win. Pete sits down, only for Ray to pick him up and encourage him to keep going. He does so, only for Ray to stop walking instead. The Major personally executes Ray and congratulates Pete as the winner. When asked to state his wish, Pete carries out Ray's plan by asking for a rifle and killing the Major with it. He then turns to the now-empty and silent street and continues walking.
In 1988, George A. Romero was considered to direct the film adaptation, but it never came to fruition.[6] By 2007, Frank Darabont had secured the rights to the film adaptation of the novel.[7] He said that he would "get to it one day". He planned to make it low-budget and stated, "It'll be weird, existential and very contained".[8] In April 2018, New Line Cinema was set to adapt a film based on the novel, with James Vanderbilt attached to write and produce the film along with Bradley Fischer and William Sherak through their Mythology Entertainment banner.[9] In May 2019, it was announced that André Øvredal would direct the adaptation.[10]
By November 2023, the film was to be produced by Lionsgate Films with Francis Lawrence directing from a screenplay by JT Mollner.[11] On June 10, 2024, Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson joined the cast.[12] On taking the part of a young character who lost a father like Hoffman had himself, Hoffman said: "When your trauma is on display for the world, there's no actually hiding it. I'm like, I might as well talk about it, or I might as well put it into something. Because if I keep hiding it and running from it, that's not fair to anyone else who has gone through that. I'm here to display this person and this experience as honestly as I can, and hopefully someone else watches it and goes, he sees me, he understands me. And that's, in my opinion, the only reason to do any sort of art."[13] The next month, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Izabella Raven, Jordan Gonzalez, Joshua Odjick, Roman Griffin Davis, Mark Hamill, and Judy Greer joined the cast.[14][15]
As of October 19, 2025, The Long Walk has grossed $35 million in the United States and Canada, and $19 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $54 million, against a net budget of $20 million.
In the United States and Canada, The Long Walk was released alongside Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle, and was projected to gross $6–10 million from 2,845 theaters in its opening weekend.[4]The Long Walk made $4.8 million on its first day, including $1.3 million in Thursday previews. It debuted to $11.7 million, finishing in fourth.[citation needed] Positive word of mouth led the film into having above-average holds over the next several weeks. The film dropped out of the box office top ten in its fifth weekend.
Critical response
David Jonsson's performance in particular was singled out for praise.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 269 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson's soulful performances bring a lot of heart to Stephen King's dystopian tale, making The Long Walk a life-or-death ordeal for its characters but a riveting ride for audiences."[24]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 71 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[25] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[citation needed]
Several reviewers praised the film for its performances, emotional impact, and cinematography. Clint Worthington of RogerEbert.com awarded the film 3 out of 4 stars, giving attention to the acting and the dynamics between characters.[26] In Variety, Siddhant Adlakha praised the actors for creating characters that appeared "well-rounded and fully formed", which compensated for the vagueness of the world they inhabit.[27] Nick Schager of The Daily Beast wrote that the cinematography imbued the film with a "stark, morose beauty".[28] Writing for Slate, Rebecca Onion described the film adaptation as better than the source material: "Stephen King has been adapted a lot, but this is the leanest, meanest adaptation of his work in a long time."[29]
The film also received criticism for what some reviewers perceived as a thinly drawn premise and minimalistic approach to character development, including from Steve Rose of The Guardian. Rose noted that the script left the viewer to fill in many blanks, writing: "It is left to the viewer to fill in the gaps, suppress their niggling questions and just go along with it."[30] In The Washington Post, Michael O'Sullivan observed: "How the contest is intended to restore what is described as the struggling American economy — let alone give viewers a sense of hope, as the overseer of the walk, identified only as the Major (a cartoonish Mark Hamill), declares — is a mystery."[31] Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times also found that the plot strained credulity and that the director "forgot to entertain the audience".[32]
Some also criticized the film's cryptic ending, similar to the book's ambiguous ending. Polygon's Tasha Robinson wrote: "But for me at least, DeVries being allowed to kill The Major and then walk away doesn’t feel possible, and doesn’t feel plausible — not without some sense of why that might happen. Nothing in the movie up to that moment sets up the idea that The Major’s most devoted killers wouldn’t respond in some way to his death, or that a crowd primed to shriek with excitement and enthusiasm over the graphic murder of teenage boys would stand by silently when their world changes in front of them. I don’t think what we’re seeing is real. Whether that’s a satisfying landing for this story, well, that’s even more up to individual interpretation than the facts of the ending itself."[33]Mashable's Belen Edwards was more positive, writing: "Like Garraty in the novel, perhaps McVries is so traumatized that he imagines that he keeps walking on. Or perhaps, on a much darker note, soldiers opened fire on McVries as soon as he killed the Major, and his final walk into the rain is him walking into death."[34]
↑ "Interview: Frank Darabont". Lilja's Library – The World of Stephen King. February 6, 2007. Archived from the original on November 15, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
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