Stephen King’s Only Two Adaptations Of 44-Year-Old Sci-Fi Book Are Now Both Dominating Streaming Despite Box Office Flop

As a huge movie fan, I was really surprised to see two versions of The Running Man trending on a major streaming service! It’s based on a Stephen King novel from 1982 about a guy named Ben Richards who’s forced to compete in a brutal, televised game show in a grim future. Most people know the 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which was a pretty loose adaptation, but still a fun action flick. It actually did really well at the box office, making around $38.1 million on a $27 million budget.

Edgar Wright directed and co-wrote a new version of The Running Man starring Glen Powell, released in 2025. Despite a reported $110 million budget, the film didn’t do well at the box office, earning only $68.6 million worldwide. However, opinions about the movie might be starting to change.

As of today, the 2025 version of The Running Man is the most popular title on Paramount+ in the United States. The original 1987 The Running Man movie is also performing well, currently at No. 3. It’s only behind the new adaptation and the film Roofman, which is at No. 2.

The two Running Man films are currently doing better in the U.S. than several other popular movies, like the romance Regretting You (ranked at number 4) and the latest Mission: Impossible film starring Tom Cruise (ranked at number 7).

The new Stephen King movie, which is available on Paramount+ in the US and Canada, is also proving popular around the world on different streaming services. According to data from FlixPatrol, it’s currently the top movie on Rakuten TV in Ukraine and the Apple TV store in Estonia, Namibia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

I’ve noticed the 1987 version of The Running Man is getting a lot of attention lately, and I think it’s because everyone’s excited about the new one coming out in 2025. That’s great news for the whole series! It’s probably going to take a while for the new movie to earn back its costs, but the fact that it’s doing so well on streaming tells me people are really enjoying it from the comfort of their homes, which is a really promising sign.

The various ways people can now watch the 2025 film The Running Man – through streaming, on DVD/Blu-ray, on TV, and on demand – are expected to significantly offset the lower box office earnings the Glen Powell movie had in theaters.

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2026-01-16 22:03