For a lesser-known Stephen King novel, “The Running Man” has enjoyed two adaptations, both wildly different.
If you just read the book and watched the original 1987 adaptation, you’d either be excited or horrified to find out you were essentially enjoying two entirely different stories. It’s an adaptation in name only, while Edgar Wright and Glen Powell’s new film follows the story much more closely, with one major exception.
Here are the differences between the two “Running Man” movies and King’s novel.
Differences between the 1987 film and the 2025 remake
This one is easy because if you put these two films next to each other, you’d be hard-pressed to say they were adapted from the same book. The 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger infamously took the title and the loosest form of the violent reality game, and then went off the rails.
The original film makes Ben Richards a police captain who is arrested when he refuses to shoot during a food riot. He and two others are sent to a hunting ground carved into Los Angeles. The three of them are hunted for sport by delightfully ’80s-themed hunters wielding chainsaws, electricity and more.
If you see the 2025 adaptation and want something with the same skeleton but also 90% different, you’re in luck because the ’87 version is ready in the wings.
Differences between the 2025 adaptation and Stephen King’s novel
The 2025 adaptation of “The Running Man” is much more faithful to King’s original story, with the major exception being the ending. Ben ends up on a plane with McCone and a handful of others the same way, Ben learns that the Hunters killed his wife and daughters the same way, and Ben goes rogue and kills everyone on the aircraft the same way.
The difference in the movie is that Dan Killian pitches Ben to be the star of a new show, and when the offer is refused, sets the plane’s autopilot to target the arena from which The Running Man is hosted. Dan knows the plane will be shot down before it hits, Ben will die, and the ratings will spike. Instead, what happens is Ben manages to eject before the plane is destroyed and returns later with a riled-up mob of dissenters to burn down The Running Man arena and kill Dan before reuniting with his family, who did not, in fact, die.
In the book, Ben’s family was actually killed by Dan. Enraged and suffering from a fatal gunshot wound, he turns the plane he’s in on the Network building. He flies the aircraft straight into it, killing Dan and who knows how many other Network executives. It’s a darker ending for sure, and one that likely will never be adapted straight should the story get the treatment again.
