WWE or the Amazing Race - How The Running Man can Distance itself from the OG, (W)rightfully

The answer, simply, is to be more OG than the OG. That is, go all in on the source material, especially in that most claustrophobic of chapters, and merely lovingly nod at the 1987 action-sci fi classic…

As a kid of the 80s and 90s, this writer has personally been dubious of any ‘reimaginings’ of top action and sci fi, or, action-sci fi, joints. Movies in those genres dominated our release landscape back then and were more often than not watched, on repeat, rewind after rewind after rewind. Often to the point of tape decay. (And to the chagrin of many a local corner video store.) So that dubiousness is very serious, especially around reimaginings of flicks made from the enormous shadow of Arnie. Total Recall, for example (as much as I love Colin Farrell), was a farce as a reimagining and did not advance or even competently modernise the original, nor did it make Philip K. Dick’s source material sing any more than Paul Verhoeven’s brilliant adaptation had already done, pitch perfectly. It just… well, it sucked.

(So did Conan: The Barbarian with the very capable and normally fantastic Jason Momoa -- though ‘remaking’ that is and will forever remain SACRILEGIOUS, just sayin'.)

There are also plenty of other remakes from the era that shouldn’t have been greenlit, let alone made, such as RoboCop, The Karate Kid and even Footloose, as broad examples, but it’s when you touch an Arnie classic that you start to tread a very ornate blade edge of “should we?” and “shouldn’t we?” potentiality for being split in two and, by the adoring masses, carved asunder. At least in terms of what’s okay. Which brings us to The Running Man, of which a recent trailer has dropped. Run it by your eyeballs below:

Normally this one would be a baulk-at as well, but so far those stone-etched no-nos implied above are open to sway those of us staunchly-stood, chisels in-hand and steely-eyed at the prospect of a studio and ‘money-grubber’ looking to unnecessarily change history. Or, more keenly, ‘Arnie history’. And it rests from the outset with the film’s helmsman in director, writer and co-producer, Edgar Wright. Without his name attached only a very small handful of other creators could deliver that same level of significant sway.

And so with the Shaun of the Dead director fully in control of this ‘reimagining’ we’re actually pretty (optimistically) keen. But to keep us at Ready to Riot™ bay, it needs these three things to deliver…

The Running Man (2025)

What’s The Pop?: Movie
From: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: November 07, 2025
Official Link: Learn More Here
Author: Stephen Farrelly
Date: July 21, 2025

The Greater Good

Edgar Wright etched his credentials long before the likes of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz or Baby Driver told the movie-going masses he had an eye for stylistic action and pacing. Even the live-action adaptation of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which on paper really shouldn’t have worked, worked in his hands. Long time fans will know this is because his work on the seminal British comedy, Spaced, always had him set up for a life making action classics with just the right amount of homage, yet wholly done in his signature style. (Read our “Would you like to know more?” box out for… MORE!)

He’s a self-professed geek and Marvel missed something when it let him walk from Ant-Man in that franchise’s early days. Spaced references everything from Star Wars to The Matrix to Arnie’s Commando, and all always either tongue-in-cheek or with narrative import to the show’s nerdy cast. It is lowkey genius, unapologetically bearded in the neck region and a major reason we’re so on board with The Running Man being remade at all. We mean, they (the team) asked Arnie for his blessing ahead of taking the dive… just let that level of reverence sink in for a minute.

"The OG movie was incredibly OTT and Richards, as played by the impossibly imposing Arnie, was effectively a superhero..."

Still, what we need here is action, action, action. And quickly. But it needs to be delivered in a believable fashion. The OG movie was incredibly OTT and Richards, as played by the impossibly imposing Arnie, was effectively a superhero.

“This isn’t a game, they're betting on Richards up there!”

But what Wright often does is quick. His edits are quick, his action is quick, even his kinetic pacing -- when required -- is quick, regardless of the scene’s actual intent. (Buying a Cornetto has never, ever looked so stylish in anyone else’s directorial hands.) The import of this is that the book, which is actually pretty short, is played out as a countdown and each chapter feels like it's been crafted to constrict you, the reader. Meaning everything is delivered… quickly.

In re-reading King-as-Bachman’s dystopic tale it’s abundantly apparent now that Wright wasn’t just right to helm, he was born to run with it. 

Consider this: Of all of Wright’s works, you might find the most to pull from with Hot Fuzz, which is a veritable love-letter in both story and composition to all action movies of the 70s, 80s and 90s (and even a bit beyond). Many scenes from the movie are memorable for stylistic approach, but it’s the humdrum Wright makes exciting. Catching a train, ordering a pint, doing paperwork… everything he does is built around tension and kinetic energy, and he channels the most out of the viewer during normally mundane points of exposition and moments of padding. Not because he wants to make the boring fun, but because he sees every bridging path in a narrative as exciting.

And the entirety of the source material is nothing if not all-the-way exciting. So, in order for this adaptation to land, it needs the same dynamic energy and quickness Wright is already known for, and it needs a constricting amount of tension set upon the viewer to capitalise on the book's pacing.

Would you like to know more?
Stand out moments from Spaced include the thug (or chav) rundown sequence where even the aggressors stop to perform a The Matrix-style slow-mo fight scene. This hearkens back to playing as kids and reminds us all that, while dire in the intent of the baddies, no one is safe from fantasy. It's a fun scene and shows a glimpse inside Wright's head, which we assume is plenty of slow-mo moments being played out in real-life, like making a basic cup of tea. (We bet he looks good in his head doing it, too.)

Minus 69…
and COUNTING…

There’s a chapter in the book that, while very short, is incredibly claustrophobic. It describes Richards utilising a very tight storm drain to escape an inferno he set ablaze above which in itself is likely to reach him not before too long. But the pipe looms figuratively large, and literally small. At this point he’s on the run, he’s in hiding, and he’s thinking as quickly and haphazardly on his toes as the scenario dictates. And it’s incredibly uncomfortable. It’s a defining moment for Richards and the reader because both, at once, realise just what’s at stake and just how far he must go to not only win, but to survive.

"In the book Richards is set free in the real-world and can utilise every day space around him to advance and stay alive..."

The OG movie has no such moment. The game show is locked down and the ‘runners’ have a smallish space to navigate divided into “quadrants” that has been designed by the producers. In the book Richards is set free in the real-world and can utilise every day space around him to advance and stay alive, but that also helps us as readers and soon-to-be viewers plant ourselves more meaningfully into his running shoes. It’s like The Amazing Race versus WWE -- both are spectacular, but one is confined to an arena and a ring within that arena with bloodthirsty fans in attendance, while the other is free range where the people you meet could be with you, against you or just plain oblivious, but they're not a technical part of the game. There’s no ‘hidden’ objects of convenience underneath a squared circle in the real-world, such as a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, and those who hunt you are baying for blood rather than a three count, and have a license to spill it.

It might seem like a small thing, but the movie, which we’re told takes most of its base from the book, needs to be as close to that as possible, and where it’s not, it needs to capitalise on what it means to not be in that ring inside the arena mentioned above. But in the dystopic year the book and OG film are set, 2025, we need contextual if not retrofuturistic opportunities that are as ‘every day’ as you can get for Richards to use. But above all else, we need a solid 10 minutes of the most squeamish, most claustrophobic, most anxiety-inducing pipe-crawling anyone has ever seen, and it needs to be as close to the book as possible. Nail this one, which the trailer hints at towards the end, and we think we’re in good stead for Wright's The Running Man to be what it deserves to be. 

Would you like to know more?
In entering the bloodthirsty game show at all to help his ailing daughter, Richards is "saving the cat" right from the outset. His plight throughout, regardless of his demeanour or actions, will always be altruistic, which is why in the book his end isn't all roses and rebellion. But the underlying theme between the novel and the 1987 Arnie classic is that no one wins or survives The Running Man, which will make Wright's handling of this interesting. We're super-keen to see Brolin's Killian (known as "Dan" and not "Damon" in this adaptation, as he was also known in the book), and to know how everything will be played out from the 'rigged' perspective of it all, but it's a query that looms large given Wright has allegedly opted for a happier ending here.

Dystopia is Cyclical 

Is it 1982, 1984 or 1987 all over again?! Where does the looped time fly??!! 

Life imitates art, they say, but when art precedes actual life, as The Simpsons keeps managing to do, then that’s when things get interesting. And The Running Man, in its original form, is definitely in the camp of art preceding real-life, especially given it features components that have actually manifested in our modern world, albeit in a humbly fictional setting.

"This means that all three -- King’s dystopic opus, the original Arnie movie and Wright’s upcoming adaptation -- feel more genuinely poignant right now than any in isolation..."

The fun thing? Both the book and the original flick are set in 2025 (as mentioned above). This means that all three -- King’s dystopic opus, the original Arnie movie and Wright’s upcoming adaptation -- feel more genuinely poignant right now than any in isolation might have intended. And what Wright does with this is something we’re keenly looking forward to. It does feel that his adaptation will be ‘contemporary’ with contextual technology modern viewers could easily relate to, specifically around the ever-present nature of filming Richards and his ‘run’.

But we’re worried it might all be flashy and lack substance. Discourse around the initial trailer has punters fearing this is more a “Summer Blockbuster” than a layered, fun and clever movie. Though we have faith given Wright’s portfolio. The key takeaway from all of the above, however, is that the third thing this treatment needs is bleakness. It can be poignant and even prophetic, given the source material, but that would need Wright’s dark comedic spin on things to land. And even if scenarios or elements creep in and feel worrisome, we need it to be first and foremost about Richards and his plight; his reason to signing up, his resourcefulness and his reaction to the bloodthirsty viewers and world around him… all of it needs to feel like he simply won’t succeed and that the game is rigged against him. You know, for… *reasons.

*Read our second “Would you like to know more?” box out for… even MORE!

Would you like to know more?
While we've definitely spent most of this feature highlighting how Wright can distance himself and his adaptation from the OG film, it shouldn't be completely forgotten. After all, it's a dystopic action-sci fi classic. The query will be on how it can find its way into the new product. Cameos, Easter eggs, subtle nods... all are up for grabs and while an Arnie cameo would be the fan-favourite, we definitely want something else. And given Wright's comedic background and the glib setting, we're hoping it shines through in one-liners. Arnie's flick was full of them with classics like "here is Sub-Zero... now, PLAIN zero!" and "he had to split" right after sawing Buzzsaw clean in half, vertically. We don't want the same lines, but we want lines of a similar vein...

Richards Lives

We live in a spoilers-dominated world. And it’s already been posited that the grim ending to the book won’t make it to the silver-screen (or any screen, lest we get a Director’s Cut). And that’s not all bad. Rather, this conclusion to all of the above is happy to accept that, while we are allegedly getting a Bachman-led basis for this reimagining, it is very much Wright’s vision we’re enduring and maybe with the art being so close to modern life right now, we all needed a win. Richards included.

It remains to be seen how it will all play out and we desperately hope Arnie makes a cameo, if just for Wright’s nerdy sake than anything (actually, ours too). But that's as far as we *really* need the original movie to creep into this. If 1987's sci fi action classic can exist in its own sphere, untouched, then we’re on board. Obviously the above is just us flexing geek, so we have ZERO expectation for Wright to read this and make changes, but it doesn’t make our enthusiasm any less pertinent. Too many reimaginings just get it wrong. We’re obviously hoping now it’s all simply done Wright. 

The Running Man hits cinemas early November, stay tuned for more as we have it.

About the author

Written By Stephen Farrelly
Stephen Farrelly is a veteran journalist and editor with more than two decades experience in the worlds of gaming, entertainment, lifestyle and sport. He is a proud pug dad, loves art in all forms (particularly street and tattoo culture), and is the director of Swear Jar Editorial and Media Pty Ltd, this site's owner and publisher. When not dispensing words, he's also dispensing boutique beers as a taproom fixture at Bracket Brewing in Marrickville, NSW...
More from this Author
  • + Eyes of Wakanda is Dropping on Disney+ this Week - Do You Like Assassin's Creed?
  • + Official Predator: Badlands Trailer Destroys All, Killer of Killers Gains Cheeky Epilogue
  • + Before S4 Even Airs, Invincible S5 Has Been Greenlit

    • explore more across our site

    Star Wars Genesis collects hundreds of Star Wars mods for Starfield and stitches them together with new content, questlines, and RPG elements that draw inspiration from classic titles like BioWare’s Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.

    Ever wondered what a more twisted spin on a Disney classic might look like? (And no, we're not talking about some of the ones you can find on that SomethingHub site.) If the answer is "yes, yes I have", then Bye Sweet Carole might just be for you. Click on through to learn why...

    Who wants to be the next Forged in Fire Champion, Medieval Bohemia Edition? Yeah, you know you do. Click on through to learn just how you can make that a *reality.

    *You can't, it's videogame reality, FYI.

    You know what action sports games need? Rideable trains that grind and do fliptricks and fight evil corporations and mechs. Yeah, that's definitely what they need...

    New details on Hotel Barcelona including release date and collaborative efforts are inside. Is this bound to be SUDA 51's best work? Is SWERY the missing piece to his magnum opus puzzle? Click through to get classically Suda-hyped!

    Fancy working out which house had the most to hide or be proud of in a once thriving community before a zombie apocalypse took hold? Yeah, we do too. Long Gone, then, is just for you (and us)!

    Fancy some Force powers in a Weird Western made up of Steampunk technology and aesthetics? How about scary monsters, lots of cool physics and environments tailor-made for exploitation? What about an interesting story that hints at a bit more than what's been revealed? We've got it all, inside! Click on through...

    Forget about Subnautica 2; nothing to see here... wait, what's this -- fresh updates for the OG AND Below Zero? Hold our Filtered Water!

    After Doom changed everything in 1993, id Software published Raven Software's Heretic, a high fantasy first-person take on the FPS, in 1994. As part of the current QuakeCon 2025 celebration, Bethesda, id Software, and Nightdive Studios have shadow-dropped a comprehensive remaster and re-release of Heretic and its sequel, Hexen, for all platforms.

    Ever wondered what a mecha anime might look and play like as a first-person shooter? You have!? You mean, we're NOT the only ones??!! Sweet, well, have a looksee at this joint via the Read More link and let's be friends!

    Comment

    Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.