MOVIE NEWS – Among Schwarzenegger’s lesser cult films is the 1987 The Running Man, which is loosely based on a Stephen King novel.

The story takes place in a near-future, dictatorship-stricken America, where the television show The Running Man is the primary form of mass entertainment. Criminals are released live in front of the cameras, hunted down by professional bounty hunters, and the contestants’ prize is either freedom, or more often, death, all to the cheers of the crowd. Schwarzenegger, who was already a major star at the time, played a hero who, though innocent and politically targeted, ends up among the chosen fugitives. Like a self-taught terminator, he takes out his pursuers one by one, sometimes in quite R-rated ways.

One of today’s most original filmmakers, Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Baby Driver), has remade The Running Man after noticing that the first version made relatively little use of Stephen King’s original story and was on a much smaller scale. For this reason, Schwarzenegger agreed that the new version should be made.

“I’ve always felt that the 1987 version could have been much better if we’d prepared more thoroughly,” Schwarzenegger told CBR. “A lot more money should have been invested, and of course, it wouldn’t have hurt to have the kind of visual technology that’s available now. This time, there’s a good chance something big will be achieved, so I’m honestly rooting for it.”

(The Running Man – domestic release: November 6, 2025)