'Maybe the Third Version in 2045 Will Stick the Landing' — Writer of Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Running Man Responds to Glen Powell's Box Office Flop

The writer of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Running Man adaptation has offered his instrumentality connected the caller version’s container bureau struggles.

According to Deadline, Paramount‘s $110 cardinal reboot The Running Man, headlined by Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone But You, and Twisters prima Glen Powell, endured an opening play that brought successful conscionable $28.2 cardinal globally. Directed by Edgar Wright, The Running Man is simply a modern adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 caller of the aforesaid sanction that comes astir 40 years aft Schwarzenegger’s iconic 1987 effort.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Steven E. de Souza, writer of the 1987 movie, responded to 2025's The Running Man’s container bureau stumble, saying complaints astir its ending rekindle memories of akin complaints astir the ending of his version.

“I work it and [felt that] connected paper, they got the ending working,” de Souza insisted, having work the publication of the caller movie. “Even the reviews that emotion it accidental it stumbles astatine the end. It seems to maine that this clip around, thing went incorrect betwixt the leafage and the signifier again.”

Warning! Spoilers for The Running Man follow:

Both 1987's The Running Man and 2025's The The Running Man marque a akin but important alteration to Stephen King’s ending truthful that it is acold little bleak.

As IGN discusses successful our The Running Man ending explained article, successful King’s ending, protagonist Ben Richards flies a level consecutive into the Network building, which presumably kills everyone inside. 1987's The Running Man does distant with this successful favour of Arnold infiltrating the Network gathering alongside an service of rebels to termination demented showrunner Killian and unafraid his revenge.

In the 2025 version, Powell gets a level scene, but Killian engineers a deepfake video showing Richards threatening to clang into the Network building. The video shows a rocket taking retired the plane, redeeming the workplace assemblage from definite decease and, it seems, sidesplitting Richards. But successful reality, Richards survives, and Powell ends up doing his champion Arnie content and infiltrating the Network gathering for a showdown with Killian.

In THR interview, de Souza said adaptations of King’s publication had to alteration the ending due to the fact that it was truthful depressing.

“The book’s ending is simply a downer, truthful you request a caller ending. I would accidental that some the '87 mentation and this mentation tweak the ending successful beauteous overmuch the aforesaid way, but that successful our version, we had little money, truthful it’s a small simpler.”

“Maybe the 3rd mentation successful 2045 volition instrumentality the landing.”

de Souza besides agreed that The Running Man failed to entreaty to women up of its launch, saying the pre-release selling skewed male. “There decidedly is immoderate validity to that,” helium said. “Science-fiction ever skews male.”

While there’s inactive a accidental for The Running Man to retrieve astatine the container office, it is present improbable to marque its wealth backmost during its theatrical run. The decorativeness line, it seems, has already been crossed. IGN's The Running Man reappraisal returned a 7/10. We said: "The Running Man survives but Edgar Wright and Glen Powell get caught betwixt the bleak sci-fi of Stephen King’s caller and the campy satire of the Arnold Schwarzenegger version."

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].