Info in Movie News | Before Glen Powell takes center stage in Edgar Wright’s upcoming remake, The Running Man is getting a fresh surge of attention, and a free release. Beginning July 1, the 1987 cult classic starring Arnold Schwarzenegger will be available to stream for free on Pluto TV. It’s the perfect moment for audiences to rediscover a wild piece of '80s sci-fi that, in hindsight, was weirdly ahead of its time.
According to Collider, the original The Running Man, directed by Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky & Hutch), took major liberties with Stephen King’s novel, which was published under his pseudonym Richard Bachman. Rather than a desperate everyman competing for money to save his family, the movie stars Schwarzenegger as Ben Richards, a wrongly accused police officer forced to participate in a televised bloodsport as punishment.
Set in a dystopian future where America’s favorite pastime is watching criminals get hunted on live television, The Running Man fuses over-the-top action with biting satire. Richards is sent into a death trap from where he has to run and fight flamboyant "stalkers" who are the creatures of his nightmare such as Fireball (Jim Brown), and Captain Freedom (Jesse Ventura), while millions of bloodthirsty viewers cheer from their couches.
That car was just ridiculous, exceptionally noisy, and totally from the '80s. The movie had neon-colored aesthetics and corny Arnold jokes for sure, but it was really a combination of American Gladiators and a dystopian nightmare. Still, there was a smart media manipulation, the corporate power, and the public's unquenchable hunger for violent entertainment satire under the visuals.
The Running Man was initially greeted with ambivalent opinions and mediocre box office returns at its premiere in 1987, especially in comparison with Predator, Schwarzenegger’s other major success of that year. On a $27 million budget, it made only $38 million worldwide. But there has been a resurrection of the movie's popularity in the recent years, in the form of fans and critics who have gone back to it to analyze its themes in relation to the present day reality TV and state-controlled narratives.
All of this makes Pluto TV’s free stream perfectly timed. Not only does it introduce the movie to a new audience, but it also builds buzz ahead of the highly anticipated remake. Powell, fresh off Top Gun: Maverick and rom-com success, is set to star as the lead in Wright’s darker, more faithful adaptation of King’s novel. Lack of detailed information about the full cast and storyline has resulted in the fact that the new version only being known for a more rough, less shiny interpretation of the story’s basic themes.
So if you are a person who has never watched The Running Man or have not seen it for many years, it would be best to do it now. Starting July 1, you can stream it for free and decide for yourself whether this gaudy, blood-soaked satire was actually onto something. The countdown to the remake is on, it hits theaters November 7.
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