Film Preview: The Running Man (2025)

Film Poster

Page Revisions:

(July 6, 2025) Original
(October 19, 2025) New Trailer (#2) — New Posters (#2-#3)
(November 9, 2025) New Posters (#4-#8) — New Release Date (changed from 11/7/25)
(December 14, 2025) New Trailer (#3) — New Poster (#9)

Release Date:

November 14, 2025

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “A man joins a game show where contestants, allowed to go anywhere in the world, are pursued by “hunters” hired to kill them.”

Poster Rating: C / B / B+ / C / C+ / B (3) / C

SEE ALL POSTERS BELOW
Review: (#1, C) If he were a bigger box office star, Glen Powell’s countenance would generate some level of appeal but without any additional details or more embellishment, this design just sits there doing nothing. There’s more energy in the logo design than the rest of the poster itself.

(#2, B) The Red background is overbearing but the content is stellar. With a well balanced stack of characters and locales, the viewer gets an easy sense of the type of film they should expect. It will test the selling power of Glen Powell but it’s a solid entry. (#3, B+) While I’m still not a fan of the excessive red background and the large amount of it, I like the motion trails of this design better than its predecessor because it better ties into the title and concept of the film. It might feature some of the same images but they are arrayed in a better, more balanced way and ultimately make the design interesting to look at.

(#4, C) Format-specific poster designs are often similar but distinctive and while that’s true of this design and its successor, it’s not universally true. This one is dull and uninspiring, which is commonplace among IMAX designs. (5, C+) This action shot at least creates some excitement for the viewer even if it has a limited, though eye-drawing color palette and is otherwise fairly bland. (#6-#8, B) Then you have these three designs, which focus on line drawings to create the energy and they look visually striking and use colors that might otherwise be linked to horror films while making them feel unique on their own. Each varies in its simplicity, with the first sitting squarely in the middle but being energetic while the second has more creative energy. The guns standing in for skyscrapers is a compelling touch. Meanwhile, the third takes things in a completely different direction, employing a visual style that was prominent at the time Stephen King wrote his original text for The Running Man.

(#9, C) Maybe they should have called this “The Jumping Man” considering all of the leaping the character is doing. While the title formatting and the image make an interesting visual blend, the firing weapons added are deadly dull.

Trailer Rating: B+ / B / C+

SEE ALL TRAILERS BELOW
Review: (#1, B+) Stylistically similar to The Fifth Element, this adaptation of one of Stephen King’s Richard Bachman book The Running Man looks to have a more gritty style than Fifth Element but definitely feels like an Edgar Wright film and that’s a good thing.

(#2, B) This second trailer is a bit derivative of the first. Most of the thematic and narrative content is the same but this one gives more excitement and action elements that might further increase attendance of the film. There isn’t a lot of repetition here but ultimately, it feels like if you’ve seen both trailers, you might well have seen the whole film which is a knock to this trailer for presenting too much new content that isn’t superfluous.

(#3, C+) An explosive final trailer that failed to ignite passion in the material. It oversold the premise without setting up action sequences that will impress. It does make the viewer wonder why William H. Macy’s character was given so little to do in prior trailers when he might have improved them all as he does with this one.