Remake Of Underrated Stephen King Gem Gets Exciting Update
Chad Collins
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Paul Michael Glaser’s The Running Man, adapted from the Stephen King story of the same name, was one of the eighties’ premier slices of dystopian action. A moderate box office success, the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle features a television show where the titular runners (convicted criminals) must outrun trained killers for their chance at freedom (and a tropical respite). Now, in an exclusive interview with Ryan Scott of SlashFilm, writer Simon Kinberg has shared an update on the planned The Running Man remake.
Synopsis per IMDB: In a dystopian America, a falsely convicted policeman gets his shot at freedom when he must forcibly participate in a TV game show where convicts, runners, must battle killers for their freedom.
Simon Kinberg is known most recently as the creator of the Apple TV series Invasion. He is additionally credited as the creator of the animated Star Wars series Star Wars Rebels On the feature film side of things, Kinberg has been credited for the likes of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, X-Men: The Last Stand, and most recently, Dark Phoenix.
Director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Last Night in Soho) is currently attached to direct the adaptation of Stephen King’s story, and from Kinberg’s interview, it seems like we might be running toward a remake of The Running Man sooner rather than later.
“Yeah, he’s one of my favorite directors of all time and one of my favorite people, just a super great guy. 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… 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.”
Both dystopian cinema and Stephen King adaptations remain popular with audiences. Now is as good a time as any to introduce an entirely new generation to The Running Man.
What do you think? Are you excited about The Running Man remake? Where does it rank among Stephen King adaptations for you? Let me know over on Twitter @Chadiscollins!
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