Paramount Pictures is readying to put Edgar Wright’s The Running Man in the starting block with seven months to go before a Nov. 7 debut in theaters. The cast looked prepped and game to set a strong theatrical pace by appearing on Caesars Palace’s Colosseum stage during the studio’s CinemaCon presentation on Friday.
“I have never worked harder on a movie in my life,” said star Glen Powell, known as one of the busier actor-producers in Hollywood of the film, which just wrapped a week ago.
Wright and Powell were joined by Josh Brolin and Colman Domingo for a lively segment during which they introduced never-before-seen footage from the film, an adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 novel. Published under King’s pseudonym Richard Bachman, The Running Man is set in an America in 2025 under a totalitarian regime that uses violent game shows to placate the disenfranchised masses.
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The dystopian story follows a desperate man named Ben Richards who needs money for a sick daughter. To solve the problem, he joins a popular show titled The Running Man, in which teams of killers hunt down contestants. The longer a contestant survives, the more money that person makes. But as the game show’s producers and killers will find out, the man is keen to break all the rules and expose the show’s dark secrets.
Paramount boss Brian Robbins welcomed the team to the stage, calling the original tale “a nightmarish story,” adding that he expects the film to be the runaway hit of November. Wright was the reason Robbins wanted to make the film.
Wright said he’s been a fan of King’s original novel since he was a teenager, but there’s a story in the book that’s never been told, so that’s what he zeroed in on. “The Running Man is one of those movies that gives the audience somebody to cheer for,” Wright said of the lead character, played by Powell, whom he praised as someone worthy of playing a character on the run who rides his natural charisma to become a real-life action hero.
With that, Wright welcomed Powell to the stage, who said that what the filmmaker has come up with for the reboot “is nothing short of extraordinary.” Powell continued by saying, “This movie doesn’t just have touches or flavors of things audiences love, this is the full meal.”
Powell continued by saying that the role required him to be thrown off buildings and put through the ringer, though he didn’t expect it to be so real. “This is probably what I get for asking Tom Cruise for advice on using a stunt double,” he noted of his Top Gun: Maverick co-star, who is expected to turn up during today’s presentation.
Said Wright of Powell: “He literally and figuratively threw himself into it, as you can see.”
Powell then welcomed his “two new best friends” in Domingo and Brolin, the latter of whom he praised as the “greatest bad guy in the universe.” For his part, Brolin said his The Running Man character is “maniacal” but was so much fun to play. Brolin also shouted out Powell’s dog, Brisket, who has a role in the film, as evidenced by a photo that flashed up on the big screen.
The footage that played for the Colosseum crowd went over well and showed Powell looking desperate and beaten down by the situation with his daughter. He then comes face-to-face with Brolin’s bad guy, who says he’s aware of the family crisis at play. The two exchange some heated words as Powell’s Ben Richards says, “I’m not trying to get myself killed, so kiss my ass twice.” Brolin then replies, “Right there is why you can win this game.” Flashes of Domingo appear as a host onstage wearing a purple-ish velvet tuxedo and narrating the events.
The novel already inspired a 1987 actioner from filmmaker Paul Michael Glaser and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in the title role opposite Maria Conchita Alonso and Richard Dawson. That version found Schwarzenegger playing Richards as a falsely convicted policeman who gets a shot at freedom by participating in the gruesome game show.
As for the new version, William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Emilia Jones, Michael Cera, Daniel Ezra and Jayme Lawson round out the cast. The Paramount Pictures production in association with Domain Entertainment is produced by Wright, Simon Kinberg and Nira Park. Executive producers include George Linder, James Biddle, Rachael Prior and Audrey Chon.
CinemaCon, the annual gathering of cinema owners and Hollywood studios, is hosted in Las Vegas by the newly rebranded Cinema United, which for decades was known as the National Association of Theatre Owners. This year’s edition runs from March 31 to April 3.
