The Sundarban
Published Feb 17, 2026, 4:00 PM EST
After graduating from Marist University with a level in communications and journalism, Dan Girolamo has over 10 years of expertise writing about entertainment and sports. Dan’s work can be viewed in various publications, together with Digital Dispositions, ComingSoon.Fetch, SportsCasting, and Tom’s Information.
At some stage in his career, Dan has interviewed several high-profile filmmakers and creatives, together with Brendan Fraser, Jamie Lee Curtis, Caitriona Balfe, Frank Grillo, Miranda Cosgrove, Jai Courtney, Chris Columbus and James Cameron.
Dan joins How-To Geek as the Streaming Lead. When he’s now no longer writing about entertainment, Dan is both watching a movie or praying for the Recent York Knicks to win a championship.
Hollywood loves a suitable Stephen King e-book. There have been over 90 feature-length movies based on King’s works, with several of his books getting a number of adaptations, together with The Running Man. Written below King’s pseudonym Richard Bachman, The Running Man is a dystopian adventure where one man enters a deadly game demonstrate to win money. There have been two movie adaptations of The Running Man: the 1987 film with Arnold Schwarzenegger and the 2025 version with Glen Powell, with the latter climbing the streaming charts.
Directed by Edgar Wright, 2025’s The Running Man misfired at the box place of industrial, grossing $68 million on an estimated budget of $110 million. On the alternative hand, the demonstrate is discovering fresh life on streaming. Since it began streaming on Paramount+ last month, The Running Man has consistently sat in the tip 10 movies on the carrier, and according to Flix Patrol, it be the tip movie on Paramount+ in the United States. Despite its complications, The Running Man is now a streaming success.
What is The Running Man about?
In my simplest Colman Domingo remark, “Welcome to The Running Man.” In a future version of a dystopian United States, a media corporation known as The Community runs the country. The most popular program is The Running Man, a reality TV competition that mirrors the place of abode of The Most Dangerous Game. Contestants (“runners”) attempt to outlive for 30 days without being killed by “hunters,” paid assassins that work for the Community. Runners earn money for each day they continue to exist, with the grand prize being $1 billion.
Powell stars as Ben Richards, a struggling citizen who loses his job, meaning he can’t pay for medical bills to take care of his sickly daughter. Desperate for cash, Ben defies his wife’s (Jayme Lawson) orders, auditions for certainly one of the crucial Community’s game presentations, and will get chosen to be on The Running Man by the vindictive producer Dan Killian (Josh Brolin).
After surviving the primary day, Ben like a flash realizes that the Community has no scheme of letting him leave, meaning they’ll gain whatever it takes to accomplish him on live television. What Killian would no longer plan for is Ben’s ingenuity, resilience, and anger—Ben is irritated and repeatedly complains about his complications via his mandatory taped confessionals.
The Running Man’s strengths gain now no longer outweigh its weaknesses
1987’s The Running Man was made to amplify Schwarzenegger’s strengths—strength, star energy, and comedy. The Running Man is an ’80s action movie first and a King adaptation 2d. Schwarzenegger will get to battle the bad guys and say a few ridiculous one-liners—”Killian, here is Subzero! Now, plain zero!” Compared to his other action blockbusters of the decade, Schwarzenegger’s The Running Man underperformed at the box place of industrial with a $38 million frightful, which ultimately became the start of a vogue for this suppose IP.
2025’s The Running Man was directed and co-written by Edgar Wright. The English filmmaker’s movies are known for their frenetic pacing, zany dialogue, and mix of comedy with action. The Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Baby Driver are the ideal examples of an Edgar Wright film finished successfully. There are moments in The Running Man that have Wright’s distinctive fashion, with the greatest moment coming with Powell’s interaction with Elton Parrakis, played by Scott Pilgrim’s Michael Cera. The total Home Alone sequence with Powell and Cera combating off the hunters is the ideal combination of quippy humor and fast-paced action.
Unfortunately, the form of fashion would no longer absolutely fit with The Running Man’s premise. It is a dark e-book that makes utilize of a dystopian adventure to craft a anecdote about the horrors of capitalism, authoritarianism, class inequality, and media propaganda. Regardless that the 2025 adaptation is closer to the e-book than the 1987 movie, the tone of the unconventional would no longer near off in Wright’s adaptation. The third act, especially the ending, also feels flat. Wright changed the bleak ending of the unconventional in favor of a more optimistic approach. Had it been an original action comedy instead of a Running Man adaptation, it may have been larger acquired.
Aside from the tone, Powell’s casting is now being 2d-guessed now that the film flopped. When Powell will get to play the most charming character in the room, he is a legal star—glimpse at Hit Man, Anyone but You, Twisters, and Top Gun: Maverick as proof. He’ll take a look at that appeal later this month in A24’s The way to Make a Killing. Whereas Powell has the physique and the personality to play an action hero, he would no longer give off the anti-authority energy necessary to play Ben. Ben Richards is an angry and aggressive character. These traits are now no longer in Powell’s wheelhouse appropriate now.
