A little bird told us that the hit 1987 dystopian action film “The Running Man” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso and directed by Paul Michael Glaser is set to get a new rendition by Baby Driver director Edgar Wright for studio Paramount. While the 1987 film was said to have loosely been based on Stephen King’s Novel of the same name, the new edition will reportedly be closer to the original story than the feature film. Stephen King had published the thriller novel in 1982 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Michael Bacall will be the one writing the script for the movie.
Dystopia and totalitarianism were a future described by King in 1982
The novel is set in the future at a point of time when the world’s economy had collapsed and The United States has turned into a totalitarian dystopia. Main Protagonist Ben Richards, stricken with poverty, and blacklisted from trade is unable to find a livelihood to support his gravely ill daughter and his wife. In these circumstances Richards signs up for a game show run by a government operated game network. “The Running Man” is the network’s most lucrative yet most dangerous game show. The contestant is declared as an enemy of the state and released 12 hours before “Hunters” are released to hunt him down and kill him. He makes $100 per hour of being alive and must stay alive for 30 days to win the grand prize of 1 Billion dollars.
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What we know so far
The film is reportedly being produced by Simon Kinberg and Audrey Chon through the Genre Films banner and also Nira Park from Wrights Complete Fiction banner. Edgar Wright, who’s 2017 movie “Baby Driver” was quite successful at the Box Office, is currently working on his latest project “Last Night in Soho”. We are still waiting for more details as the project is still in its barebone stages.