One of the end-of-2025 releases that most impressed the discerning audience was undoubtedly "The Running Man," the latest adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name, directed by Edgar Wright and a reboot of the 1980s cult classic "The Running Man," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. This production, over the past year, has aligned itself with a remarkably positive trend for films based on the author's works, as demonstrated by Mike Flanagan's touching "The Life of Chuck" and the HBO television series "It: Welcome to Derry."

Despite initially receiving positive reviews from critics, especially for the accuracy of the adaptation and the high quality of the action scenes, “The Running Man” unfortunately had to deal with a disappointing box office response, after a less than exciting debut and, above all, a collapse in theater attendance that exceeded 70% after just the second week.

With a total gross of just $40 million, the film failed to cover its production costs, which stood at around $110 million. However, Paramount's losses appear to have been even greater when considering the marketing costs. The reason for this failure, however, appears to be due precisely to the film's commercial decisions, which proved incapable of attracting sufficient public interest. Added to these reasons were subsequent press reviews, which were decidedly more lukewarm than the initial response, which inevitably affected the overall picture.

Proud and satisfied with the work accomplished, regardless of its commercial success, Edgar Wright returned to discuss the film in a recent interview with Comigsoon, focusing in particular on the choice to include a different ending than the book's. He stated: "We never intended to bring the book's epilogue to the big screen. And I would say that there is, obviously, a parallel to the real world that became reality after it was published, and so I think it would have been rather tasteless to have done the novel's ending. I think for obvious reasons."

Going into more detail, he added: “We knew from the beginning, before we even started working on the treatment, that we weren't going to do it. And the idea was to hint at the fact that this is something they're going to frame him for. I don't want to give too much away by talking about how the book or the movie ends, but we wouldn't have had the same fire, but maybe we could have kept the same spark of revolution. That was the idea. It's something that retains the same element of revenge, but also has a more hopeful tone, like the start of a new movement.”

And, hinting at King's reaction to seeing a different ending, he continued: “Honestly, Stephen King kind of had to approve of the adaptation, and he really appreciated the fact that we changed it, because I think he didn't expect us to put the book's ending in the movie, and he was happy that we didn't.”

Regarding the freedom to strictly adhere to the original ending or propose an alternative, he later commented: “I find it funny that sometimes people say, ‘Why don’t you stick to the book’s ending?’ But I was actually thinking, ‘Well, I think it’s pretty obvious why we didn’t do that.’ And I don’t think we actually need something this dark and nihilistic right now in 2025. I think we need a little light, even if it’s an angry light.”

Undoubtedly, among the film's most memorable scenes are those set during the game show, in which the protagonist participates, initiating the deadly game whose sole purpose is survival. In this regard, Wright's comments to People magazine during the film's presentation are noteworthy, in which he mentioned the extraordinary chemistry established between actors Glenn Powell and Coleman Domingo: "The game show scenes were some of the most fun to shoot because they seemed a little out of control, the way Colman had the crowd under his control. Everyone is shouting insults at him, while Glen, handcuffed, is introduced to the audience before being released to participate in the deadly game. He seemed somewhat out of control, in the best possible way."

And, regarding Domingo's performance, he added in particular: "He was incredible; he was the audience's entertainer. In all his scenes, he was in front of the extras and was able to completely enthral them. He had them in the palm of his hand by the end of the first day."

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