Edgar Wright’s New Stephen King Movie Is The Director’s Biggest Risk In 20 Years

Edgar Wright’s next project is a remake of The Running Man, based on the 1982 novel of the same name by Stephen King (as Richard Bachman), and it’s his biggest risk in 20 years. Edgar Wright has become one of the most popular and respected filmmakers in the industry thanks to his narrative and visual style, mostly his visual comedy. Wright rose to fame with the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, co-written with Simon Pegg, in which he explored three genres mixed up with comedy: horror, buddy cop/action, and sci-fi.

Wright moved on with Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, further establishing himself as one of the best comedy writers and filmmakers in recent years, but he has since explored other genres. Wright has added action without comedy as its basis with Baby Driver and psychological thriller with Last Night in Soho to his filmography, but his next project might be his riskiest of all. Wright is now working on a remake of 1987’s The Running Man, which, even though is an action movie, could end up being Wright’s first failure as a filmmaker.

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Adapting A Stephen King Novel Puts Pressure On Edgar Wright’s The Running Man

The Running Man is unlike any of Edgar Wright’s works

Stephen King’s The Running Man was published in 1982 under King’s pseudonym Richard Bachman. The Running Man is set in a dystopian United States in the year 2025, when the country’s economy is in ruins and violence is on the rise around the world. Ben Richards, an impoverished 28-year-old in Co-Op City whose daughter is ill and his wife has resorted to prostitution to win some money, turns to Games Network in a desperate attempt to get some money. Richards is then selected to appear on the reality show The Running Man, where contestants can go anywhere in the world but are being chased, and anyone who kills them gets a huge bounty.

Although Wright has already gone into the sci-fi genre with The World’s End and thriller with Last Night in Soho, both films were written by Wright, but The Running Man being a creation of one of the most beloved and famous writers of the genre puts extra pressure. Adapting any Stephen King story always comes with a lot of pressure as filmmakers have to make sure to stay true to their essence and not make too many changes that could completely change the story and characters, and that’s the biggest challenge Wright is facing with The Running Man.

Stephen King’s The Running Man Already Failed As A Movie Adaptation

The 1987 version of The Running Man is very different from the novel

In 1987, The Running Man was adapted to the big screen with Paul Michael Glaser as director. The Running Man changed the setting to 2017-2019, as well as other details that ended up making the movie a loose adaptation of the novel. In it, the participants of the reality show are criminals fleeing from armed mercenaries in order to earn a government pardon and a tropical vacation. Ben Richards, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is a police helicopter pilot who is sent to a prison labor camp, where he escapes with two resistance fighters and is later offered to participate in The Running Man.

The Running Man was a moderate box office success and got mixed to negative reviews, with King sharing in his book On Writing that the movie made Richards less relatable. Still, The Running Man was adapted into a video game in 1989, and in 2022, Schwarzenegger revealed that a sequel was in development, separate from Wright’s remake. Despite its expansion to video games and possible sequel, The Running Man already failed as a movie adaptation, which isn’t the best news for Wright’s remake, but it also shows what it should avoid.

Why Edgar Wright Is Perfect For The Running Man Remake

Edgar Wright must learn from the mistakes of the previous adaptation

Glaser’s The Running Man had many flaws, mostly all the changes it made to King’s novel, which is something that Wright can fix in his remake. Wright can make a proper adaptation of the novel that keeps the emotional layer of it without sacrificing the action and suspense. Wright has proven he can handle sci-fi and thriller along with emotionally charged stories, so despite the pressure that comes with adapting a Stephen King story that already failed on the big screen, Wright can succeed at it. The Running Man is definitely the biggest risk Edgar Wright has taken in his career, but it also has the potential to save the novel’s big screen reputation.