Glen Powell's $69M Sci-Fi Movie Flop Finds Redemption On Streaming
By Published Apr 6, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2026. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2026. Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap
While Glen Powell’s 2026 dystopian sci-fi thriller was well-liked by critics and proved a huge hit on Paramount+, its box office failure just goes to show how much better the genre fares on the small screen. It is fair to say that sci-fi TV is having a moment in 2026.
Even if there are , the rest of the genre is faring so well that it is hard to worry about the franchise. and Apple TV’s adaptation of William Gibson’s iconic cyberpunk novel Neuromancer alone prove that cyberpunk fans are in for a busy year.
Meanwhile, means that space opera shows will also receive a boost, just as both Silo and Foundation proved to be critically adored hits in their own right. Sadly, the failure of director Edgar Wright’s proves that the genre’s good fortune doesn’t necessarily extend as far as the multiplex.
The Running Man Flopped At The Box Office
Based on the novel of the same name by legendary author Stephen King, 2026’s take on The Running Man is actually the second adaptation of King’s darkly comic 1982 book. 1987’s original The Running Man starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and received mixed reviews, but proved a minor box office success when the satirical sci-fi earned $38 million on a budget of $27 million.
In contrast, Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright’s long-awaited re-imagining was a critical success but a box office disaster, earning a mere $69 million on a budget of $110 million. This marked the second major box office flop for star Glen Powell, whose failed to capitalize on the success of Top Gun: Maverick.
Notably, The Running Man has found massive streaming success on Paramount+, where the would-be blockbuster redeemed itself by first landing on the service’s most-watched top spot and then remaining there for weeks on end. The Running Man’s story stars Powell as the beleaguered everyman Ben Richards, a hard-working blue-collar worker who is desperate to afford his ill daughter’s medicine.
Blacklisted for trying to form a laborers' union, the desperate Ben is left with no choice but to partake in the eponymous reality TV show, a televised death race where participants can win a billion by evading five murderous professional “Hunters” for 30 days. As Ben’s desperation mounts, he must rely on his wits to outsmart these vicious killers.
This all takes place under the watchful eye of an audience at home, a premise that has been revisited and built upon by hits like the Hunger Games series in the years since King’s original novel was released. Since sounds like blockbuster material, the failure of the movie came as something of a surprise.
Dystopian Sci-Fi Is More Comfortable On The Small Screen
Sadly, The Running Man’s disastrous box office could have been predicted by viewers who were paying close attention to the fortunes of both its genre and its original creator. Although 2026’s darkly comic horror movie The Monkey was a financially successful King adaptation, the author weathered a string of big-screen flops before that hit.
2026’s The Life of Chuck underperformed upon release, while 2026’s Salem’s Lot spent years in Development Hell before the remake was unceremoniously dumped on VOD. 2026’s Firestarter was a total commercial and critical catastrophe, and while 2026’s The Long Walk fared a little better, its moderate success arguably worked against The Running Man.
After all, the success of The Long Walk meant that cinema goers had just seen a dystopian sci-fi movie adapted from a Stephen King novel about a killer endurance test a few weeks before Wright’s movie was released. Moreover, there was a small-screen sci-fi TV trend that The Running Man didn’t account for, and this also predicted its downfall.
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From The Last of Us to , to Silo, to even 2026’s underrated Station Eleven, dystopian sci-fi has been a critical darling on TV and streaming for years now. In contrast, it is worth comparing the reception of these shows to the box office failures of 2026’s Borderlands, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, or Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
The Running Man’s Streaming Success Proves It Should Have Been A Series
Well before The Running Man flopped, dystopian sci-fi had already proven much more reliably popular on streaming services and television than in cinemas. Thus, it is clear that the movie should have been a miniseries instead, as this would also have elevated the King adaptation’s promising story to something more cohesive and engaging.
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Despite Wright’s best efforts, feels compressed, rushed, and overly busy. The miniseries format would have given the show more time to establish its future setting, a slower intro to the games, and more tension and emotional investment. It: Welcome to Derry’s success proves viewers love a good Stephen King miniseries, meaning The Running Man should have taken this approach.
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Ben Richards
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