The film The Running Man is breaking box office records for Stephen King adaptations released this year, 2025. It’s been a busy year for King’s stories on the big screen, with new versions of The Monkey and The Long Walk also appearing. While critics have praised these films, their success with audiences has varied.
According to Deadline, The Running Man is expected to earn around $17 million in the United States. While this is a decent start, it’s a bit lower than the originally predicted $20 million.
I was so thrilled to see that this film had the biggest opening weekend of any King adaptation released this year! It really blew past the numbers for The Monkey, which earned $14 million, and even The Long Walk, with $11 million. As an Edgar Wright fan, I also found it amazing that it’s his second-highest opening ever, only behind Baby Driver‘s impressive $20.5 million debut. It’s just fantastic to see this kind of success!
| Stephen King Movie Adaptations | Budget | Domestic Box Office Weekend Debut | Domestic Total | Box Office Global Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Monkey | ~$10,000,000 | $14,014,649 | $39,724,912 | $63,683,002 |
| The Life Of Chuck | ~$25,000,000 | $2,100,000 | $6,712,602 | $11,367,988 |
| The Long Walk | ~$20,000,000 | $11,703,621 | $35,163,573 | $62,178,930 |
| The Running Man | ~$110,000,000 | ~$17,000,000 | ~$17,000,000 | $28,200,000 |
The new film The Running Man had a strong opening weekend, earning twice as much as the 1987 version starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which made $8.1 million. However, the $110 million production – the most expensive Stephen King adaptation of the year – still needs to earn a lot more to become profitable. It debuted in second place with $8.1 million, behind Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, which opened at $24 million and took the top spot.
Okay, so I’ve been tracking the numbers, and it looks like The Running Man isn’t doing as well overseas as we’d hoped. Current projections put it at around $11.2 million internationally, which means the worldwide total will likely land at just $28.2 million. It’s a bit of a mixed bag overall, since this was the last Stephen King adaptation scheduled for release this year. The Life of Chuck really struggled, only making $11 million globally, but thankfully The Monkey and The Long Walk both did really well at the box office. It’s just a shame The Running Man couldn’t join them.
Despite early predictions of a $20 million opening weekend, The Running Man’s box office performance was likely dampened by mixed reviews. Critics shared their opinions earlier in the week, and while Glen Powell’s performance as Ben Richards and the action scenes were praised, many found the third act confusing and the film’s social message underwhelming. This resulted in a 64% score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the lowest-rated film directed by Wright.
I think the movie’s R-rating definitely hurt its performance in theaters. It meant fewer people could see it, which actually helped the first Now You See Me because it was PG-13 and could reach a much bigger audience. But it wasn’t just the rating – the marketing for the first movie was really smart too. They timed it with a real heist at the Louvre, which created a lot of buzz and made people even more curious about the third Now You See Me film.
Even though The Running Man didn’t have a great opening weekend, it still has a chance to do well. The upcoming Thanksgiving holiday should boost ticket sales, and more and more movies are finding success on streaming services even if they underperform in theaters.
We’ve already seen this pattern with films like The Accountant 2 and Ballerina – they didn’t do well in theaters, but were popular on streaming services. Similarly, The Life of Chuck and The Long Walk gained traction on streaming because of their connection to Stephen King. So, it’s likely The Running Man will also perform well when it becomes available for home viewing. Currently, there’s no confirmed date for its streaming release.
The Running Man is now playing in theaters.
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2025-11-17 03:00