Paramount Pictures revealed the first trailer for The Running Man, a dystopian action movie based on Stephen King’s 1982 novel. Glen Powell headlines The Running Man, and despite the lack of footage, it’s clear that his Ben Richards will be better than the one portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“Stop filming me!” Powell’s Richards screams before an explosion launches the character off a bridge and into the water. In a near-future society, Ben faces a financial crisis. He needs a doctor to save his sick daughter. Because desperate times call for desperate measures, Ben enters The Running Man, a deadly competition where contestants (“Runners”) must survive 30 days. During that timeframe, professional assassins (“Hunters”) hunt the contestants down, intending to kill them. Survive and win the grand prize, or die and get nothing.
Plus, the entire nation is watching the competition on television, and they want nothing more than to see Ben fall.
The Running Man cast includes Josh Brolin as Dan Killian, the show’s ruthless producer; Jayme Lawson as Sheila Richards, Ben’s wife; and Colman Domingo as Bobby Thompson, the host of the TV show.
Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, Katy O’Brian, David Zayas, Daniel Ezra, Karl Glusman, Sean Hayes, and William H. Macy also star.
Edgar Wright helms The Running Man, his first directed feature since 2021’s Last Night in Soho. Wright penned the screenplay alongside Michael Bacall, based on the novel by King, first published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.
This is the second time The Running Man has been adapted for the big screen. Schwarzenegger played Ben Richards in 1987’s The Running Man. Despite mixed reviews, The Running Man went on to become a cult classic. With Schwarzenegger at the height of his powers in 1987, The Running Man focused on action and spectacle over the book’s messages about social inequality and media corruption.
Powell’s Running Man appears to be more closely aligned with the novel, especially with why he enters The Running Man — to save his ill daughter. While Schwarzenegger doesn’t get enough credit for his comedic timing, Powell is much more suited for the witty dialogue and breakneck pace, two signatures of a Wright film. Powell and Wright are leaning more into the action comedy than Schwarzenegger’s more serious approach to the dystopian story. These changes by Powell and Wright should make for a better adaptation of King’s text.
The Running Man will be Powell’s biggest test to date. If Powell delivers a critical and box office hit as the top star, the sky is the limit for the 36-year-old actor.
The Running Man races into theaters on November 7, 2025.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.