The Running Man remake in the works?

October 7th 2019, 4:00pm

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

As all of you know well and good by this point in time, Stephen King is on one hell of a roll lately with most of his works getting the big and small screen treatment (again). And today looks to be no different as we are hearing a rumor that there is a remake of King's (or, you know, Richard Bachman's) 1987 adaptation of THE RUNNING MAN starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in the works.

Now, this rumor has not been confirmed at this time, but, come on, you know someone out there in Hollywood is seeing dollar signs when you combine King (IT: CHAPTER TWO) and Schwarzenegger (TERMINATOR: DARK FATE). It's really just a matter of time (and, no doubts, rights issues). We'll keep you up to date and make sure to pass along further updates.

The original film was based on a novel King wrote under his pseudonym Richard Bachman and began:

In the year 2019, America is a totalitarian state where the favorite television program is "The Running Man" — a game show in which prisoners must run to freedom to avoid a brutal death. Having been made a scapegoat by the government, an imprisoned Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has the opportunity to make it back to the outside again by being a contestant on the deadly show, although the twisted host, Damon Killian (Richard Dawson), has no intention of letting him escape.

Paul Michael Glaser directed the original film from a screenplay written by Steven E. de Souza based on the novel by Richard Bachman AKA Stephen King. George Linder produced along with Tim Zinnemann and Schwarzenegger's costars included María Conchita Alonso, Yaphet Kotto, Richard Dawson, and Jesse Ventura as Captain Freedom. TriStar Pictures released the film into theaters back on November 13, 1987.