A 2026 streaming smash: Stephen King’s 130-minute dystopian action thriller

It’s not every day you see Stephen King pop up in the same conversation as big-budget action thrillers, but that’s exactly what’s happened with The Running Man (2025). Hollywood’s obsession with King’s work isn’t exactly news – some adaptions absolutely print money (see: It), others… well, let’s not dredge up Cell (2016). Where things get properly interesting is what’s happening in streaming right now. Despite a rough patch at the cinema, King's latest film adaptation has come surging back, thanks to a very loyal (and rather vocal) following online.

The Running Man (2025) is in the top ten most streamed movies of 2026, making it Paramount+'s highest-ranked film for the period.

How The Running Man Works

Here’s the setup: Glen Powell stars as Ben Richards, an everyman stuck in a grim future America where television isn’t just entertainment – it’s the whole ecosystem. Everyone’s glued to the box, and the top show isn’t exactly Bake Off. It’s The Running Man, a national spectacle promising anyone $1 billion if they survive a lethal game of hide-and-seek. And when I say 'lethal', I mean: if the hunters led by villain Evan McCone don’t get you, anyone on the street is free to join in. Not much comfort there.

Ben doesn’t start out dreaming of blood sports, understandably. He tries to sign up for a different programme, but desperate times call for desperate measures – his daughter’s ill and the only way to afford a new start is to risk it all in the deathmatch. Against all odds, Richards starts to look like he may actually survive, which only convinces the puppet-masters (namely ruthless producer Dan Killian) to stack the deck against him even more.

Streaming Numbers (And A Slightly Odd List)

Despite all the build-up, The Running Man was hardly the next It at the box office – critics were mixed, and it never caught fire in cinemas. But the home streaming crowd has taken to it, and the numbers don’t lie. Nielsen reports that from January to June 2026, The Running Man clocked in a hefty 2.31 billion streaming minutes, breaking into the top ten for the year so far. In fact, it’s Paramount+’s only movie to manage the feat. Most of its companions on the list are from Netflix or belong to franchises you’d expect. If you’re curious (or just want to check if you missed anything massive), here’s the full ranking:

• The Rip (Netflix) – 4.43 billion minutes
• War Machine (Netflix) – 3.53B
• Jurassic World Rebirth (Peacock/Netflix) – 3.4B
• The Wrecking Crew (Prime Video) – 2.95B
• The Crash (Netflix) – 2.69B
• Remarkably Bright Creatures (Netflix) – 2.62B
• Apex (Netflix) – 2.54B
• Sinners (HBO Max) – 2.51B
• Anaconda (2025) (Netflix) – 2.33B
• The Running Man (2025) (Paramount+) – 2.31B

How Close Is This One To King’s Book?

So, the inevitable question: does this new version actually do Stephen King’s dystopian horror justice? The novel, which King published in 1982 under his Richard Bachman alias, is vastly more grim than either film adaptation. The first adaptation, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger back in ’87, was… let’s say it prioritised action over the book’s savagely bleak tone. Critics weren’t exactly blown away at the time (not helped by the fact Predator dropped the same year), but even that film has since picked up its own small cult crowd.

2025’s effort comes from Edgar Wright, and while it’s more faithful on paper, it’s still leaning heavily into glossy, fast-paced action. It nods respectfully at the source material’s predictions about reality telly and society’s obsession with spectacle, but never fully dives into the darkness of King’s vision. Ultimately, it feels more like a platform for Glen Powell to show off his charisma than a properly unsettling journey into dystopia. But seeing the film’s streaming stats, there’s clearly a massive audience for that flavour of King adaptation anyway.