What Went Wrong: The Real Reasons The Running Man Lost The Box Office Race

Edgar Wright just rolled out The Running Man with Glen Powell front and center, and on paper it looked like a slam dunk. In reality, the box office is jogging, not sprinting. Let’s unpack what happened.

Quick snapshot: it’s a 2h 13m sci-fi action take on Stephen King’s novel, directed by Wright and led by Powell (as Ben Richards) with Emilia Jones, Lee Pace, Daniel Ezra, and Michael Cera in the mix. Reviews are decent-to-good — 65% from critics and 79% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. But the money tells a colder story: $27.6 million worldwide so far, split $16.4 million domestic and $11.1 million overseas.

This was pitched as one of Powell’s biggest action swings to date. Strong expectations, not-so-strong turnout. Here’s why that combo likely fizzled.

• Glen Powell is rising, not an all-territories draw – He is absolutely having a moment, but his pull still leans domestic. For a big, expensive genre play, you usually need a globally bankable name. He is not Tom Cruise-level yet, and you can see that in the soft international take.
• Brutal release timing – The movie opened into a pileup of well-marketed titles. The surprise pop was Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, which kept that franchise’s momentum going. And the calendar ahead is crowded too, so there’s no clean runway for The Running Man to build legs.
• A budget that left no margin for error – Production reportedly ran about $110 million before marketing. That puts breakeven way up the hill. Big-budget sci-fi action is a risk even when it connects; when it doesn’t, you feel it fast. See also: Mickey 17, a cool concept that still ended up flopping.
• Marketing that never picked a lane – Great premise, fuzzy identity. The trailers wobbled between gritty dystopia and satirical action without committing, and they didn’t fully lean on Powell’s charisma as the must-see hook. If audiences can’t tell what the movie is in 2 minutes, that’s a problem.
• Thin word of mouth – For this kind of movie, you want a loud, enthusiastic push from early crowds. It didn’t catch. Without that spark, a soft opening stays soft.
• Studio turbulence at the worst time – Paramount was in the middle of a leadership reshuffle during the release window. Those behind-the-scenes changes can scramble marketing and promo plans just when you need precision, and the rollout felt like it paid the price.

Add all that up and you get a pricey sci-fi thriller stuck at $27.6 million worldwide — not the trajectory anyone hoped for. If you caught it, I’m curious where you landed. The Running Man is playing now in US theaters.