During one of my many visits this summer, my local theater showed back-to-back trailers of The Life of Chuck, The Long Walk, and The Running Man. When the latter finally highlighted that it, too, was "based on the novel by Stephen King", a person behind me chuckled and asked aloud, "Is every movie coming out a Stephen King movie?" It was a joke, of course – while I don't remember what it was we were all watching that day, I know it wasn't King – but with four big-screen and two small-screen adaptations released this year, I can see why they made it.
Written in the 1970s (and published 10 years later), King set The Running Man, Edgar Wright's dystopian actioner about an unemployed guy who signs up to be hunted for money on the titular gameshow (and winds up kickstarting a class revolution), in 2025 – and its depictions of media manipulation, economic inequality, and commoditized violence feel chillingly relevant. It's not the only instance of the author seemingly predicting the future, either; hell, reading The Stand post-COVID is almost enough to convince you he's a time-traveller.
