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The Next Stephen King Movie Is the Best Shot at Breaking a Surprising 6-Year Streak
The golden age of Stephen King adaptations is here. Despite being based on a book written by King under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman, Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk is performing well for itself. What’s helping the movie is the positive buzz surrounding it, which includes a lot of conversation about the top-tier performances from Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson, as well as the fact that it takes liberty with the source material, delivering an original ending that significantly alters the story. King’s works are becoming a jumping-off point for creatives who have something interesting to say, which is what the next person in line to helm a movie based on the writer’s books has built their career on.
The next King movie to hit theaters is The Running Man, based on the novel of the same name and helmed by Edgar Wright. Rather than following in the footsteps of the 1987 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, the latest adaptation will seemingly follow the original story more closely. Unlike The Long Walk, which doesn’t feature any household names, it doesn’t need to take any big swings because it has everything it needs to break a surprising six-year streak for King’s movies.
Stephen King Movies Haven’t Been Box Office Hits in Recent Years
The increase in King adaptations can be attributed to the success of the It duology. In the mid-2010s, Warner Bros. believed it could capitalize on the horror tale centered on the terrifying Pennywise the Dancing Clown terrorizing the town of Derry, Maine, and it was right. Despite starring a group of relatively unknown young actors, the first It grossed over $700 million at the box office. The return was unprecedented for an R-rated horror movie, prompting the powers that be to greenlight a sequel quickly. It Chapter Two hit theaters two years later and didn’t spare any expense, nearly doubling the budget of the original by bringing in big names like James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain to play the older versions of the kids.
Unfortunately, more money meant more problems, as not only did It Chapter Two receive worse reviews than its predecessor, but it also struggled to surpass $400 million at the box office. The haul was nothing to scoff at, but it was the start of a trend that King adaptations are still dealing with to this day. Not a single King movie, including the follow-up to The Shining, Doctor Sleep, and Pet Sematary, has crossed the $100 million mark since 2019. There are several factors that contribute to this kind of stretch, including the streaming boom and theater prices, but these are about to become issues of the past, as long as The Running Man puts it all together.
The Running Man Can Be as Big as It Wants to Be
All signs point to The Running Man being rated R, as the story it’s bringing to life is full of over-the-top violence and mature themes. While that is usually a death sentence for a movie looking to make big bucks, Wright doesn’t play by Hollywood’s rules. Baby Driver, a film with a similar tone to The Running Man, earned over $200 million worldwide despite its R-rating. The big draw outside of Wright’s involvement was the movie’s impressive cast, which included Jon Hamm, Lily James, Jon Bernthal, and Jamie Foxx, among others. There wasn’t a single scene that didn’t feature at least one heavyweight trading blows with another.
The Running Man‘s roster has just as much depth as Baby Driver‘s, with William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Colman Domingo, Josh Brolin, and Emilia Jones being part of the ensemble. The leader of the pack, of course, is Glen Powell, who knows a thing or two about making money. His breakout role came in Top Gun: Maverick, the biggest box office success story in recent memory.
While reaching $1 billion is a tall order for Powell and Co., hitting $100 million should be enough for them to hold their heads high and realize that they’re part of breaking a trend that’s been plaguing King movies for several years. Even though few fans would’ve guessed it, The Running Man could usher in a whole new type of Stephen King story that studios consider for the big screen.
The Running Man hits theaters on November 14, 2025.
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