# The Running Man (1987 film)
**The Running Man** is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by [Paul Michael Glaser](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-michael-glaser) and starring [Arnold Schwarzenegger](https://www.edgepedia.org/arnold-schwarzenegger) as Ben Richards, a police officer framed for massacring civilians who is forced to compete on a deadly televised game show in a totalitarian future United States.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57805) • [2](https://www.paramount.com/movies/the-running-man) It was loosely adapted from [Stephen King](https://www.edgepedia.org/stephen-king)'s 1982 dystopian novel of the same name, published under his pseudonym Richard Bachman.[3](https://shura.shu.ac.uk/14908/) The film was released by TriStar Pictures on November 13, 1987.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57805)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | November 13, 1987 (United States), TriStar Pictures[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57805) |
| Director / writer | Paul Michael Glaser; screenplay by Steven E. de Souza[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57805) |
| Source | Stephen King's 1982 novel, published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman[3](https://shura.shu.ac.uk/14908/) |
| Lead cast | Arnold Schwarzenegger (Ben Richards), Maria Conchita Alonso (Amber Mendez), Richard Dawson (Damon Killian)[2](https://www.paramount.com/movies/the-running-man) |
| Runtime / rating | 101 minutes, rated R[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57805) |
| Budget / box office | $27,000,000 budget; $8,117,465 opening weekend; $38,122,105 domestic gross[4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0093894/) |
| Critical scores | 59% Tomatometer (128 reviews); 61% Popcornmeter; Metascore 45[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/running_man) • [6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-running-man/critic-reviews/) |
## Spoilers
### Premise
The film opens with a title card stating that by 2017 the world economy has collapsed, food, natural resources, and oil are in short supply, and a police state divided into paramilitary zones rules with an iron hand; television is state-controlled, and a sadistic game show called "The Running Man" has become the most popular program in history.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57805) Rotten Tomatoes' synopsis places the story in the year 2019.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/running_man)
Ben Richards, a cop framed for massacring rioting civilians during a famine, escapes from jail and tries to prove his innocence, but a regime in need of a scapegoat thwarts him at every turn.[2](https://www.paramount.com/movies/the-running-man) Captured along with an innocent civilian, Amber Mendez (Maria Conchita Alonso), he is forced onto the show, hosted by the unctuous Damon Killian ([Richard Dawson](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-dawson)).[2](https://www.paramount.com/movies/the-running-man) Contestants, called "runners," must stay alive against a gauntlet of costumed assassins, or "stalkers," armed with weapons such as razor-sharp hockey sticks and chainsaws; among them are "Subzero" (Prof. Toru Tanaka) and "Captain Freedom" ([Jesse Ventura](https://www.edgepedia.org/jesse-ventura)).[2](https://www.paramount.com/movies/the-running-man) With help from fellow contestants, Richards taps into government computers and proves his innocence.[2](https://www.paramount.com/movies/the-running-man)
## Production
The project began as a very different film. Based on the novel by [Richard Bachman](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-bachman), it was originally planned as a vehicle for [Christopher Reeve](https://www.edgepedia.org/christopher-reeve) with George Cosmatos, fresh from *Rambo*, directing; the budget grew from an original $10 million to $28 million as the film became a Schwarzenegger vehicle.[7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-06-28-ca-30-story.html) Cosmatos wanted a higher budget than Taft/Barish would authorize, and the two sides parted; Flemish director Carl Schenkel and British director Ferdinand Fairfax were also involved in pre-production, with Fairfax taking the film to the storyboard stage.[7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-06-28-ca-30-story.html) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57805)
When Schwarzenegger agreed to star, he suggested Andrew Davis (*Code of Silence*) to direct, but Davis was fired after nine days of filming.[7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-06-28-ca-30-story.html) With two days' notice, Glaser, known for *Band of the Hand* and extensive television work, took over; he had never helmed a big-budget movie before.[7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-06-28-ca-30-story.html) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57805) "I came in and basically shot what the producers wanted me to shoot," Glaser told the *Los Angeles Times*, describing his approach as "reactively as opposed to conceptually."[7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-06-28-ca-30-story.html) The film was produced by Taft Entertainment Pictures and Keith Barish Productions, with Tim Zinnemann and George Linder producing, and its score was composed by [Harold Faltermeyer](https://www.edgepedia.org/harold-faltermeyer).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57805) • [2](https://www.paramount.com/movies/the-running-man) Although originally scheduled for summer 1987, the $25 million film was postponed to [Thanksgiving](https://www.edgepedia.org/thanksgiving) so it would be the only action thriller released in that period, according to reports in the October 19, 1987 *Hollywood Reporter*.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57805)
## Reception and box office
The film opened domestically on November 13, 1987, earning $8,117,465 on its opening weekend and $38,122,105 in total against a $27 million budget.[4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0093894/) James Berardinelli described its reception as a lukewarm critical response with moderately positive audience appreciation.[8](https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/running-man-the)
Critical scores have remained middling: 59% on the Tomatometer across 128 reviews and 61% on the Popcornmeter from more than 50,000 user ratings, with a critics' consensus calling it "an uneven albeit occasionally rousing sci-fi action satire" with "a surprisingly muted Schwarzenegger."[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/running_man) Its Metascore is 45, in the "mixed or average" range.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-running-man/critic-reviews/) Roger Ebert, longtime film critic of the *Chicago Sun-Times* and winner of the 1975 [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize) for criticism, gave it 2.5 out of 4 stars, calling it "an arcade game for the big screen" while noting that the deadly TV show hosted by the veteran game-show emcee Richard Dawson supplied the gimmick that held the formula together.[9](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-running-man-1987) Vincent Canby of *The New York Times* saw it as "an engagingly mean, cruel, nasty, funny send-up of television," while Empire's Ian Nathan criticized its failure to look more futuristic than 1987.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-running-man/critic-reviews/)
## Relationship to the novel and other works
King wrote the novel in 1971, during civil unrest under [Richard Nixon](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-nixon), and it was published in May 1982 under the Bachman pseudonym; the book is a countercultural, anti-capitalist work about an impoverished family man hunted on television for cash rewards.[3](https://shura.shu.ac.uk/14908/) In King's book, set in 2025, Richards needs money to treat his daughter's illness and must elude police and trained trackers for a month for a billion-dollar prize.[10](https://stephenking.com/works/movie/running-man.html) The 1987 film keeps only the basic premise and some character names, transforming the material into what one commentator calls an "Arnold Schwarzenegger Action Flick."[11](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/the-running-man-review)
The screenplay's lineage is tangled. The de Souza-penned script was later found to have plagiarized the 1982 French film *Le prix du danger*, which itself was based on Robert Sheckley's short story "The Prize of Peril."[12](https://www.inverse.com/culture/running-man-retrospective-35) The film's deadly-game-show premise also anticipates later works; Berardinelli notes similar episodes of *Star Trek* ("Bread and Circuses") and *Doctor Who* ("Vengeance on Varos"), and the film is an acknowledged influence on the video game *Smash TV*.[8](https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/running-man-the) • [13](https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/11265/1/The%20Gunning%20Man%20REV%201%20%281%29.pdf)
## Legacy and remake
The film has been read as a forerunner of the dystopian battle-royale genre; one retrospective calls it a spandex-clad predecessor to *The Hunger Games*, though it treats the deadly-game-show premise as a given rather than building a world to justify it.[14](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-running-man) • [12](https://www.inverse.com/culture/running-man-retrospective-35) An academic assessment argues that, despite its reputation, the film maintains the themes of King's source novel and attacks the underpinning ideologies of capitalist America.[3](https://shura.shu.ac.uk/14908/)
A second adaptation, directed by [Edgar Wright](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgar-wright) and starring [Glen Powell](https://www.edgepedia.org/glen-powell) as Ben Richards, was released in 2025; Wright and co-writer Michael Bacall aimed to be much more faithful to King's novel than the 1987 film, whose looseness Wright said struck him when he first saw it as a teenager.[15](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/the-running-man-first-reviews/) • [16](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/interviews/stephen-king-conversation-edgar-wright-running-man) De Souza said he was "totally rooting" for the new version, hoping it would send viewers back to the original for comparison.[17](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/action-movies/writer-of-1987s-running-man-was-totally-rooting-for-glen-powells-new-movie-despite-disappointing-box-office-opening-maybe-the-third-version-in-2045-will-stick-the-landing/)
## References
1. [The Running Man (1987), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57805)
2. [The Running Man, Paramount Pictures](https://www.paramount.com/movies/the-running-man)
3. [It rained fire : "The Running Man" from Bachman to Schwarzenegger - Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive](https://shura.shu.ac.uk/14908/)
4. [The Running Man (1987), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0093894/)
5. [The Running Man, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/running_man)
6. [The Running Man critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-running-man/critic-reviews/)
7. [Out of Breath, Los Angeles Times (June 28, 1987)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-06-28-ca-30-story.html)
8. [Running Man, The (1987), Reelviews (James Berardinelli)](https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/running-man-the)
9. [The Running Man (1987), RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-running-man-1987)
10. [The Running Man (film page), StephenKing.com](https://stephenking.com/works/movie/running-man.html)
11. [The Running Man Review, CinemaBlend](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/the-running-man-review)
12. [35 years ago, a Stephen King sci-fi movie launched a new era of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Inverse](https://www.inverse.com/culture/running-man-retrospective-35)
13. [The Gunning Man, Birmingham City University open access](https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/11265/1/The%20Gunning%20Man%20REV%201%20%281%29.pdf)
14. [The Running Man parents' guide, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-running-man)
15. [The Running Man First Reviews, Rotten Tomatoes editorial](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/the-running-man-first-reviews/)
16. [Stephen King in conversation with Edgar Wright, Sight and Sound (BFI)](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/interviews/stephen-king-conversation-edgar-wright-running-man)
17. [Writer of 1987's Running Man was "totally rooting" for Glen Powell's new movie, GamesRadar](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/action-movies/writer-of-1987s-running-man-was-totally-rooting-for-glen-powells-new-movie-despite-disappointing-box-office-opening-maybe-the-third-version-in-2045-will-stick-the-landing/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Action thrillers, 1980s and 1990s*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license