Edgar Wright’s remake of Stephen King’s The Running Man will hopefully begin filming next year.
Speaking with /Film, Simon Kinberg provided an update on the upcoming Running Man remake. In February 2021, Deadline reported that Wright was attached to direct the film, while Kinberg is producing it with Nira Park and Audrey Chon.
“[Wright is] one of my favorite directors of all time and one of my favorite people, just a super great guy,” Kinberg said. “Obviously a cinephile. We are working on it actively. He’s actively working on the script with Michael Bacall. And our hope would be that it is a movie that, again, all fingers crossed and luck and everything else go our way, that Edgar could maybe direct next year.”
He continued, “Well, what’s cool is that Edgar, completely separately, before myself and Paramount started down the journey of figuring out how to get the remake rights, which was complicated, he had tweeted, just on his own — and I follow him obviously on every possible platform — he had tweeted that if there was one movie he would remake ever, it was Running Man.”
What happens in Stephen King’s The Running Man?
Written by King, The Running Man novel was published in 1982. Set in 2025, the story follows a man named Ben Richards while he participates in a deadly game show, called The Running Man, which sees him declared an enemy of the state and hunted by a ground of murderous hitmen.
The Running Man was turned into a movie, directed by Paul Michael Glaser, in 1987. Arnold Schwarzenegger played the role of Ben Richards, while Richard Dawson, María Conchita Alonso, Jesse Ventura, and Yaphet Kotto also starred.
The upcoming Running Man reboot’s script is written by Michael Bacall. Wright — known for 2004’s Shaun of the Dead, 2017’s Baby Driver, and more — directs the film following two 2021 movies, Last Night in Soho starring Thomas McKenzie and The Sparks Brothers documentary.
