Glen Powell’s New Stephen King Adaptation Passes Harrison Ford’s Forgotten War Movie at the Box Office
2025 has been a tough year for theatrical releases. Movies that once would’ve stood a strong chance of proving financially fruitful have fallen short thanks to a drop in overall theater attendance. One of the current victims of this evolution in movie viewing habits is Edgar Wright‘s The Running Man, the Cornetto Trilogy director’s adaptation of the 1982 Stephen King novel. Despite boasting a strong cast led by Glen Powell and featuring Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo, and more, the film has joined many of its contemporaries in flopping in theaters.
Over the most recent box office weekend, The Running Man took in just $1.1 million in domestic theaters, a sharp 68% drop from the previous weekend, which saw it fall out of the top ten entirely. However, this small haul was at least enough to help the film rise another place in the all-time global box office ranking for Paramount projects, overtaking Kathryn Bigelow’s forgotten Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson-led war thriller, K-19: The Widowmaker. In total, The Running Man has earned $65.7 million at the global box office. This is split between a domestic haul of $36.5 million and a further $29.2 million from overseas markets, which is a huge underperformance for a movie with a reported budget of $110 million. A synopsis for the movie reads:
“In a near-future society, The Running Man is the top-rated show on television–a deadly competition where contestants, known as Runners, must survive 30 days while being hunted by professional assassins, with every move broadcast to a bloodthirsty public and each day bringing a greater cash reward. Desperate to save his sick daughter, working-class Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is convinced by the show’s charming but ruthless producer, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), to enter the game as a last resort. But Ben’s defiance, instincts, and grit turn him into an unexpected fan favorite–and a threat to the entire system. As ratings skyrocket, so does the danger, and Ben must outwit not just the Hunters, but a nation addicted to watching him fall.”
‘The Running Man’ Has Some Tough Competition
The Running Man‘s poor performance across the most recent weekend is no doubt due to having some all-conquering competition, with three movies in particular stealing most of the theatrical spotlight. On its third weekend, the Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-led Wicked: For Good continued its positive run with a $17 million domestic haul, albeit a figure less than many had predicted. In second place in the ranks, the hugely popular Zootopia 2 added to an impressive opening weekend with a further $43 million, with the film already edging close to the billion-dollar mark. However, no film was as popular as the debuting Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, which took home an enormous $64 million domestically on its inevitable journey to success.
The Running Man is currently in theaters.
Release Date
November 14, 2025
Director
Edgar Wright
Producers
George Linder, Nira Park, Simon Kinberg
