The Running Man premiered at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square, London, on 5 November 2025. It was released in the UK on 12 November, and was released in the US on 14 November, by Paramount Pictures. The film has grossed $60.6 million worldwide against a $110 million budget and received mixed reviews.
Plot
In the near future, the United States is ruled by an authoritarian media network, Network. Most viewers live in poverty with little access to healthcare, and the Network placates the masses with trashy, violent game shows and reality television. The most popular program is The Running Man, where "runners" can win $1 billion if they survive for 30 days, while the Network's five hunters, led by the mysterious Evan McCone, as well as ordinary citizens try to find and kill them. Given $1,000 and a 12-hour head start, runners are required to film themselves every day, or else forfeit their earnings but still be hunted.
Ben Richards, a blue-collar worker in the slums of Co-Op City, is unable to afford flu medicine for his infant daughter, Cathy, after being blacklisted for union activism. Despite his wife Sheila's objections, Ben tries out for the Network and is selected for The Running Man along with Tim Jansky and Jenni Laughlin. Ben agrees to participate when executive producer Dan Killian offers him an advance for Cathy's medication and a safe house for his family. As the hunt begins, Ben travels to New York City in disguise, but flees after the hunters kill runner Tim Jansky.
In Boston, the hunters track Ben to a hostel and a firefight ensues, leading to an explosion that kills eight network soldiers. Ben is sheltered by anti-Network activist Bradley Throckmorton and his family and attempts to expose the Network's propaganda and deceit in his next recording. Instead, the Network alters Ben's message with a foul-mouthed deepfake, and Bradley's mother kicks him out.
Runner Jenni Laughlin is killed, leaving Ben as the sole remaining contestant, while his survival has earned the support of the poor and working class. Bradley sends Ben to Derry, Maine to meet fellow activist, Elton Parrakis, who prepares to lead Ben to a bunker for the remainder of his run. Ben stops Elton's mother from alerting the authorities, but Elton does so anyway, dispatching them with booby traps to avenge his father. Ben and Elton flee in a buggy filled with explosives, but McCone kills Elton. Ben crashes the buggy into another Hunter on a bridge and escapes into the river below.
Traveling north, Ben discovers that a land development has paved over the bunker. Escaping surveillance drones, he commandeers a passing car and takes the wealthy driver, Amelia Williams, hostage. Amelia realizes the truth about the Network's propaganda after seeing televised deepfakes of herself and agrees to help Ben. Reaching an airfield, they take off in a jet to Canada, guarded by McCone. Killian calls to offer Ben his own show as the Network's newest hunter if he kills McCone and the remaining hunters, broadcasting footage of them murdering Sheila and Cathy to drum up support for Ben.
Ben kills the hunters posing as the flight crew, and McCone reveals himself as a former runner who took Killian's deal after nearly winning the first season. Killing McCone, Ben sends Amelia to safety with a parachute and Elton's revolutionary pamphlets. Killian gives Ben the chance to accept his new show on live TV, but Ben instead pleads for viewers to hunt down Killian and his fellow executives. The Network redirects the jet to their headquarters, airing a deepfake of Ben threatening to crash into the building, and the plane is shot down.
Sometime later, Amelia recovers the plane's black box and leaks the uncensored recordings, turning the public against the Network. Ben, who survived due to the plane's auto-eject function, has become the face of the revolution and reunites with his family, whose deaths were faked by Killian. As the next season of The Running Man begins, host Bobby Thompson senses the audience's hostility and quits, leaving Killian to host the show. A riot breaks out, and Ben emerges from the crowd and shoots Killian.
In 2017, Edgar Wright expressed interest in directing a remake of the 1987 film The Running Man (itself an adaptation of the 1982 novel by Stephen King), with actor Chris Evans in the leading role.[21][22][23] In February 2021, Paramount Pictures announced a film based on the novel was in development. Wright was attached to direct, having developed a story with Michael Bacall, who wrote the screenplay. The new adaptation will not be a remake of the original film but a "much more faithful" adaptation of the source material.[24]
Simon Kinberg and Audrey Chon were announced as producers under Kinberg's Genre Films, alongside Nira Park of Wright's British production company Complete Fiction.[25] In April 2024, Glen Powell was cast in the lead role.[7] Powell stated that he contacted Arnold Schwarzenegger, who gave the film his "full blessing".[26] Additional cast members were announced in the following months.[15][9] Domain Entertainment co-financed the film with Paramount.[27]
The first footage was screened during Paramount's CinemaCon presentation on 3 April 2025. It was introduced by Domingo who was on stage with Wright, Powell and Brolin.[37] The first trailer released on 1 July 2025, featuring a remix of "Underdog" by Sly and the Family Stone. To promote the trailer's release, Glen Powell collaborated with social media influencer Ashton Hall, by appearing in one of his "morning routine" videos, with the video ending with Hall watching the trailer in a private theatre.[38]
The Running Man had its world premiere at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on 5 November 2025, and its American premiere at AMCLincoln Square on November 9.[42] It was theatrically released in the United States on 14 November 2025.[43] It was previously scheduled to be released on 21 November 2025, before being moved up to 7 November 2025, and then pushed back to its current date to avoid competition with Predator: Badlands.[44][45]
Reception
Box office
As of November30,2025[update], The Running Man has grossed $34.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $26.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $60.6 million.[5][6] In the United States and Canada, it was released alongside Now You See Me: Now You Don't and Keeper, and was projected to gross $23–25million in its opening weekend.[46] It made $1.9 million in Thursday box office previews, and went on to debut to $16.5 million in its opening weekend,[6] finishing in second at the box office behind Now You See Me: Now You Don't.[47][48]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 64% of 266 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "Spiritedly sprinting through grim source material, Edgar Wright's The Running Man doesn't live up to the director's high bar for inventive action extravaganzas but maintains a slick stride."[49]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 56 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[50] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, the same as the original film.[51]
Chris Klimek called The Running Man a "bloody hoot" in a 3.5-out-of-4 review for The Washington Post, with praise for the direction and performances.[52]Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave it two and a half out of four, writing: "The relentless pace generates enough of an endorphin rush to power the movie beyond plausibility nitpicking. It also prevents the audience from probing its worldview too closely, up to a point. That's probably for the best."[53]Owen Gleiberman of Variety viewed the remake as an improvement on the 1987 Schwarzenegger movie, but he did not find the dystopian themes unique or compelling. Gleiberman wrote that "because we’ve seen so many garishly downbeat sci-fi movies, dystopia is now the air that our imaginations breathe."[54]Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian awarded the film three stars out of five, calling it "retro-futurist and steampunky, though it is always watchable and buoyant." He reserved praise for Wright's confident direction.[55] Stephen King, who disliked the original film, praised the 2025 adaptation, calling it a "bipartisan thrill ride".[56]
Notes
↑Bacall is credited twice for writing the screenplay; first as a solo writer and as part of a writing team with Edgar Wright.[1]
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