# The Long Walk (2025 film)
**The Long Walk** is a 2025 American dystopian survival thriller directed by [Francis Lawrence](https://www.edgepedia.org/francis-lawrence), written by JT Mollner, and based on [Stephen King](https://www.edgepedia.org/stephen-king)'s 1979 novel of the same name, published under his pseudonym [Richard Bachman](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-bachman). It was distributed by Lionsgate and released theatrically on September 12, 2025.[1](https://stephenking.com/works/movie/long-walk.html) • [2](https://lsf.go.id/en/film/long-walk/580) The film adapts the first novel King ever wrote, begun while he was a student at the University of Maine in the late 1960s, and it stars Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, and Mark Hamill.[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/2025/09/12/long-walk-stephen-king-movie/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | September 12, 2025 (theatrical, United States), distributed by Lionsgate[1](https://stephenking.com/works/movie/long-walk.html) |
| Director / writer | Francis Lawrence; screenplay by JT Mollner, based on the novel by Stephen King[1](https://stephenking.com/works/movie/long-walk.html) |
| Source | King's 1979 novel, published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman; the first novel King wrote[2](https://lsf.go.id/en/film/long-walk/580) • [3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/2025/09/12/long-walk-stephen-king-movie/) |
| Premise | Fifty young men in an annual televised walking contest must keep above three miles per hour; walkers who slow are shot[4](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/10/the-long-walk-review-stephen-king) |
| Principal cast | Cooper Hoffman (Ray Garraty), David Jonsson (Peter McVries), Mark Hamill (The Major), Judy Greer (Ginnie Garraty)[5](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-long-walk-stephen-king-movie-review-2025) • [6](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-long-walk/umc.cmc.4j03c6evpx3y9kx0ntde47g3o) |
| Box office | $62,906,990 worldwide on a $20,000,000 production budget; $11,703,621 opening weekend[7](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Long-Walk-The-%282025%29) |
| Reception | Metascore 71 on Metacritic; 88% on Rotten Tomatoes (260 fresh, 36 rotten)[8](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-long-walk-2025/critic-reviews/) • [6](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-long-walk/umc.cmc.4j03c6evpx3y9kx0ntde47g3o) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and cast
The film is set in a dystopian, authoritarian America and centers on an annual contest called the Long Walk. Fifty young men, selected by lottery, walk nonstop along a highway; any walker who slows below three miles per hour, or strays off the road, is removed from the competition by being shot at point-blank range. The final survivor is promised whatever he wants.[4](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/10/the-long-walk-review-stephen-king) In kilometers, the required pace is 4.8 km/h, and failure to maintain it after three warnings results in death.[9](https://www.techradar.com/streaming/hbo-max/the-long-walk-is-coming-to-hbo-max-and-youll-be-pleased-to-know-its-a-short-wait)
**Cooper Hoffman** plays Raymond Garraty, contestant number 47, a young man dropped off at the starting line by his mother ([Judy Greer](https://www.edgepedia.org/judy-greer)) who befriends fellow walker Peter McVries, played by **David Jonsson**. Their growing friendship is the film's emotional center.[4](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/10/the-long-walk-review-stephen-king) • [5](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-long-walk-stephen-king-movie-review-2025) [Mark Hamill](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-hamill) plays the Major, the merciless military overseer of the contest.[6](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-long-walk/umc.cmc.4j03c6evpx3y9kx0ntde47g3o) The supporting cast includes Garrett Wareing as Stebbins, Tut Nyuot as [Arthur Baker](https://www.edgepedia.org/arthur-baker), Charlie Plummer as Gary Barkovitch, and Ben Wang as Hank Olson.[5](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-long-walk-stephen-king-movie-review-2025)
In the film's story, Garraty has volunteered with the goal of using his victory wish to seize a guard's rifle and kill the Major.[10](https://time.com/7315571/the-long-walk-ending-stephen-king/) The final three walkers, Garraty, McVries, and Stebbins, are the same in the book and the film, but the winner and the ending are changed.[11](https://www.thewrap.com/the-long-walk-ending-explained/)
## The novel and its long development
King wrote *The Long Walk* in 1967 while attending the [University of Maine](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-maine), and it was published in 1979 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman; the public learned King was Bachman in 1985, when the novel was reissued under his own name in the collection *The Bachman Books*.[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/2025/09/12/long-walk-stephen-king-movie/) • [12](https://assets.adg.org/media/submissions/2025-12-08_13-58-41/TheLongWalk_ADG_Presentation_Red.pdf) King wrote the story not long after the [Vietnam War](https://www.edgepedia.org/vietnam-war), and the novel is often read as an allegory of the draft and of state-sanctioned violence, though King has said he did not explicitly intend it that way.[10](https://time.com/7315571/the-long-walk-ending-stephen-king/)
The screen rights changed hands repeatedly over roughly four decades. In 1988, director George Romero was tapped to direct an adaptation that never materialized. [Frank Darabont](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-darabont), director of *The Shawshank Redemption* and *The Green Mile*, obtained the rights in 2007 but let them lapse. [James Vanderbilt](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-vanderbilt) and director André Øvredal were attached at various points while the project sat at New Line, and the rights lapsed in the summer of 2022.[13](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/horror-movies/the-long-walk-screenwriter-says-he-had-to-go-through-the-motions-to-adapt-the-upcoming-dystopian-horror-thriller-we-had-to-ask-stephen-king-if-he-was-ok-with-it-and-thank-god-he-was/) In November 2023, Lionsgate picked up the rights with Lawrence in final talks to direct and [Roy Lee](https://www.edgepedia.org/roy-lee) producing; JT Mollner was writing the script.[14](https://www.thewrap.com/francis-lawrence-director-stephen-king-movie-the-long-walk/)
Producer Roy Lee received the call from King's agents about the book's rights and brought in Mollner, who had just finished *Strange Darling* (2023). Mollner said that when he and Lawrence settled on their approach, they had to ask King whether he approved of the changes, and King agreed.[15](https://www.fangoria.com/the-long-walk-bts-featurette/) • [13](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/horror-movies/the-long-walk-screenwriter-says-he-had-to-go-through-the-motions-to-adapt-the-upcoming-dystopian-horror-thriller-we-had-to-ask-stephen-king-if-he-was-ok-with-it-and-thank-god-he-was/)
## Production and release
The film runs 108 minutes, was filmed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and carries an MPA rating of R for strong bloody violence, grisly images, suicide, pervasive language, and sexual references.[7](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Long-Walk-The-%282025%29) Lionsgate presents it in association with Media Capital Technologies as a Vertigo Entertainment / about:blank production; the producers are Francis Lawrence, Roy Lee, Cameron MacConomy, and [Steven Schneider](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-schneider).[1](https://stephenking.com/works/movie/long-walk.html)
It opened in 2,845 North American theaters on September 12, 2025, grossing $11,703,621 in its first weekend and finishing fourth. Domestic receipts reached $35,163,573 and international receipts $27,743,417, for a worldwide total of $62,906,990 against a production budget of $20,000,000.[7](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Long-Walk-The-%282025%29) Lionsgate Home Entertainment released it on video on October 21, 2025.[7](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Long-Walk-The-%282025%29) It began streaming on Starz in January 2026 and arrived on [HBO Max](https://www.edgepedia.org/hbo-max) on July 10, 2026.[16](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/movies/michael-makes-its-exclusive-streaming-debut-on-starz-today-heres-how-to-watch-it) • [9](https://www.techradar.com/streaming/hbo-max/the-long-walk-is-coming-to-hbo-max-and-youll-be-pleased-to-know-its-a-short-wait)
## Reception
Critics received the film favorably. It holds a Metascore of 71 on Metacritic, with 28 positive, 5 mixed, and 1 negative review among 34 counted, and an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[8](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-long-walk-2025/critic-reviews/) • [6](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-long-walk/umc.cmc.4j03c6evpx3y9kx0ntde47g3o) Several reviewers placed it among the best Stephen King adaptations; Total Film scored it 100 and called it "one of the best Stephen King adaptations ever made," and Collider wrote that it "easily become[s] one of the best Stephen King adaptations."[8](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-long-walk-2025/critic-reviews/)
**Adaptation choices drew attention.** The Guardian described the film as a cross between a buddy movie and a horror movie, noting that Lawrence deliberately avoided the gaudy spectacle of his Hunger Games films and kept the wider dystopian society barely seen.[4](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/10/the-long-walk-review-stephen-king) The Washington Post called the violent adaptation "surprisingly talky" and reported that, at a press screening, one viewer felt the ending, a violent departure from the more ambiguous book, went too far.[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/2025/09/12/long-walk-stephen-king-movie/) The Los Angeles Times praised the young ensemble, which also includes [Ben Wang](https://www.edgepedia.org/ben-wang), Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, and Joshua Odjick, while finding the film's message "at once hopeful and despairing."[17](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2025-09-12/the-long-walk-review) Reviewers also noted the film's contemporary resonance: King wrote the novel as an allegory for the Vietnam War, and critics argued the story of young men marched to death under an authoritarian regime still spoke to 2025.[18](https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/long-walk-2025/) • [10](https://time.com/7315571/the-long-walk-ending-stephen-king/)
The film's rules differ from the novel's as described in early coverage: the novel's contest involves 100 teenage boys walking along US Route 1 who must keep above 4 miles per hour, while the film follows 50 walkers at a 3-mile-per-hour threshold.[14](https://www.thewrap.com/francis-lawrence-director-stephen-king-movie-the-long-walk/) • [4](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/10/the-long-walk-review-stephen-king)
## References
1. [The Long Walk, Stephen King official site](https://stephenking.com/works/movie/long-walk.html)
2. [Film page, Lembaga Sensor Film (Indonesia Film Censorship Board)](https://lsf.go.id/en/film/long-walk/580)
3. ['The Long Walk': Stephen King's dystopian novel becomes a too-talky film, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/2025/09/12/long-walk-stephen-king-movie/)
4. [The Long Walk review, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/10/the-long-walk-review-stephen-king)
5. [The Long Walk movie review & film summary, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-long-walk-stephen-king-movie-review-2025)
6. [The Long Walk, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-long-walk/umc.cmc.4j03c6evpx3y9kx0ntde47g3o)
7. [The Long Walk (2025), Box office and financial information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Long-Walk-The-%282025%29)
8. [The Long Walk critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-long-walk-2025/critic-reviews/)
9. [The Long Walk is coming to HBO Max, TechRadar](https://www.techradar.com/streaming/hbo-max/the-long-walk-is-coming-to-hbo-max-and-youll-be-pleased-to-know-its-a-short-wait)
10. [How The Long Walk Movie Subverts the Ending of Stephen King's Dystopian Novel, Time](https://time.com/7315571/the-long-walk-ending-stephen-king/)
11. [The Long Walk ending explained, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/the-long-walk-ending-explained/)
12. [The Long Walk ADG presentation](https://assets.adg.org/media/submissions/2025-12-08_13-58-41/TheLongWalk_ADG_Presentation_Red.pdf)
13. [The Long Walk screenwriter on adapting the dystopian thriller, GamesRadar+](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/horror-movies/the-long-walk-screenwriter-says-he-had-to-go-through-the-motions-to-adapt-the-upcoming-dystopian-horror-thriller-we-had-to-ask-stephen-king-if-he-was-ok-with-it-and-thank-god-he-was/)
14. ['Hunger Games' Director Francis Lawrence in Talks to Tackle Stephen King Adaptation 'The Long Walk', TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/francis-lawrence-director-stephen-king-movie-the-long-walk/)
15. [Go Behind The Scenes Of THE LONG WALK In Our Exclusive Featurette, Fangoria](https://www.fangoria.com/the-long-walk-bts-featurette/)
16. ['Michael' makes its exclusive streaming debut on Starz today, Tom's Guide](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/movies/michael-makes-its-exclusive-streaming-debut-on-starz-today-heres-how-to-watch-it)
17. ['The Long Walk' review, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2025-09-12/the-long-walk-review)
18. [The Long Walk review, Plugged In](https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/long-walk-2025/)
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