Copyright Screen Rant
Stephen King's review of the remake of The Running Man has been revealed. The upcoming The Running Man, which was directed by Edgar Wright and stars Glen Powell, is a new adaptation of King's 1982 novel of the same name, which was originally published under the pen name Richard Bachman. It was previously adapted into a 1987 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Variety recently sat down with Wright to discuss The Running Man. The director revealed that he had recently asked for Stephen King's thoughts on the project, so he could share them with the audience at a panel promoting the movie ahead of its wide release on November 14. Via email, King said, “Like it? I love it!” King continued, saying that 2025's The Running Man is "faithful enough to the book to keep the fans happy, but different enough to make it exciting for me." This is high praise from the legendary author, who can be vocal when he does not approve of an adaptation of his work. For instance, in spite of being one of the most widely respected Stephen King movies, Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of The Shining received the writer's ire, largely for straying much too far from the source material. However, he has also publicly approved of some adaptations that notably diverge from the original text, especially when they maintain the right overall feel. In fact, 2007's The Mist, which has a considerably darker ending than the original novel, earned considerable praise from King. In 2017, he told Yahoo! Entertainment that "it was nihilistic. I liked that. So I said you go ahead and do it." It seems that The Running Man has toed the line of keeping the spirit of the novel alive while maintaining its own distinct identity. If King's assessment is accurate, then the 2025 movie is likely much more faithful to the novel than the 1987 adaptation, which boasts a number of major differences from the original book. King's praise of the movie has been revealed just days after Glen Powell shared (during an interview with ScreenRant's Ash Crossan) the fact that original star Arnold Schwarzenegger told him that the new movie was "incredible." It ultimately remains to be seen if critics and audiences have the same reaction to the new movie as King and Schwarzenegger. So far, the movie does not have either a Tomatometer or Popcornmeter score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, critics were able to share early, spoiler-free reactions on social media on November 5, and the overall tenor of their reactions was positive.
