The Running Man is already a hit on Paramount+, and while it has a lot of fans, the movie has one major problem. Stephen King’s iconic book was adapted once again in the form of 2025’s The Running Man, directed by Shaun of the Dead and Baby Driver‘s Edgar Wright. Contestant Ben Richards is played by Glen Powell, with him going on the run from the Hunters in the hopes of winning the deadly game show and bringing the winnings home to his struggling family.
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Upon its theatrical release, The Running Man didn’t do as well as Paramount had hoped. The film was one of the biggest box office flops of 2025, with it only making $69 million on a budget of $110 million. On top of that, it received mixed reviews, with critics pointing to the pacing and themes as weak points. However, the film has received a second life on Paramount+, allowing a new group of fans to discover The Running Man.
2025’s The Running Man Completely Changes Stephen King’s Original Ending
The Running Man movie is surprisingly faithful to the source material, with it making relatively few changes to Stephen King’s original story throughout the first two acts. While there are some updates designed to make the film feel more modern, and the protagonist is made a bit more likable, the story and world are mostly the same. However, The Running Man makes a big departure from the original story in its third act, completely changing King’s original ending.
In The Running Man movie, Ben takes Amelia hostage and makes his way to an airport. They get on a plane, along with McCone and a group of hunters disguised as the flight crew, and head to Canada. Once on board, Killian offers Ben the chance to become the lead hunter and get his own show if he kills McCone. After seeing footage of his wife and daughter being killed, Ben kills the hunters. The Network redirects the plane to their headquarters and broadcasts fake footage of Ben saying that he is going to crash the plane into the Network’s tower. So, they shoot the plane down. Eventually, it is leaked that the footage was faked, and that Ben was inciting a revolution against the Network. Ben secretly escaped the plane and eventually killed Killian amidst a riot.
Like the movie, the book sees Ben and Amelia get on a plane with McCone and a group of hunters. This time, Ben accepts Killian’s deal and kills the hunters after learning that his wife and child are dead. However, he is shot during the battle. Before dying, Ben reprograms the plane’s autopilot to fly into the Game Network’s headquarters. Thus, the plane crashes into the tower, killing Ben and Killian.
So, the movie gets rid of Ben’s plane attack, instead having the plane get shot down before revealing that Ben is alive. Another big change is that, in the movie, it is revealed that Killian faked the deaths of Ben’s family. So, Ben’s family is still alive at the end of 2025’s The Running Man, while they are actually dead in the book.
These changes to The Running Man movie really sand down the edges of the book’s ending, but it isn’t surprising that a major blockbuster would want to have a safer ending than King’s original book. These changes were likely made due to the original book ending resembling the real-world 9/11 attacks. Having the protagonist of the movie fly a plane into a building in a post-9/11 world may have made him too unlikable for modern audiences, but it still contributes to the overall feeling that the movie has less teeth than the book.
This Running Man Is Still A More Faithful Adaptation Than The 1987 Movie
Even if 2025’s The Running Man completely changes the ending of the book, it is still a much more faithful adaptation than the franchise’s previous movie. 1987’s The Running Man was directed by Paul Michael Glaser and stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Ben. This version of The Running Man barely resembles the book, completely changing the character of Ben. In the film, Ben is a police captain who is arrested after he refuses to open fire on a food riot. He is later framed for murder, and after escaping prison, he is asked to join the game show so that his notoriety can help boost ratings.
The 1987 The Running Man was critically panned, as its changes to the book only made the story worse. Fans of King were clamoring for a proper adaptation for years, and the 2025 film seemed like it was finally going to answer these prayers. While the ending of 2025’s The Running Man is different, it is still much closer to King’s original vision than the Schwarzenegger-led film.
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