'The Running Man': Paramount & Edgar Wright Remake Casts Glen Powell In Lead Role

‘The Running Man’: Paramount & Director Edgar Wright Tap Glen Powell To Star In Sci-Fi Action Remake

Another interesting bit of news coming out of the Paramount Pictures panel today at CinemaCon 2024 is that Edgar Wright‘s remake of the sci-fi actioner “The Running Man” has tapped rising star Glen Powell (“Top Gun: Maverick”) to play the lead role of Ben Richards that previously was portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1980s feature adaptation of the Stephen King novel.

The remake from Wright is said to be closer to the original novel that saw Richards being lured into participating in the deadly game show known as The Running Man to get money to help his sickly daughter get medicine/medical care. Elements from the King novel that were sort of pushed aside to make Schwarzenegger’s involvement a little more believable in an action-focused incarnation.

Powell was most recently seen in “Anyone But You” opposite Sydney Sweeney; there have been rumblings online that Wright could end up directing her in Sony’s feature remake of the classic French comic book film “Barbarella,” which starred Jane Fonda in the 1960s.

Wright, of course, is best known for his Cornetto Trilogy (“Shaun of The Dead,” “Hot Fuzz,” “The World’s End”) alongside things like “Baby Driver” and the thriller “Last Night In Soho.”

SOURCE: PARAMOUNT PICTURES VIA CINEMACON 2024

‘Top Gun 3’ In The Works At Paramount With Director Joseph Kosinski Reportedly Returning

In the wake of the news that Tom Cruise had secured a new non-exclusive deal with Warner Bros. to help develop, produce, and star in new films at the studios, it looks like more work might be done at Paramount Pictures. Puck News first reported that Paramount has hired “Top Gun: Maverick” co-writer Ehren Kruger to write “Top Gun 3” with The Hollywood Reporter adding that director Joseph Kosinski is also expected to be returning to direct the third installment in the franchise focused on Navy combat pilots.

The 2022 sequel took decades to come together and became the first billion-dollar hit for Tom Cruise by earning an impressive $1.5 billion at the global box office. Apparently, the aim here is to reunite Cruise with actors Miles Teller (Rooster) and Glen Powell (Hangman) in a new sequel.

In the most recent film, Maverick (Tom Cruise) who is now a test pilot is reluctantly forced by U.S. military brass to train a group of highly skilled pilots at the Top Gun school for an upcoming suicide mission in a fabricated country. Instead of letting the team fail, he insists on joining them despite being extremely long-in-the-tooth and about to be shown the door by the Navy after decades of disobedience.

Cruise is currently working alongside Christopher McQuarrie (Who contributed to the “Maverick” script) to finish up “Mission: Impossible 8.” That spy flick could be the action star’s final outing with that franchise for the foreseeable future. He’s also been putting together a reunion with Doug Liman (“Edge of Tomorrow”) for a space project at Universal Pictures that is expected to film sequences at the International Space Station, which is expected to be the next feature film he shoots once “MI8” is completed. We’re still awaiting official word on the status of “Edge of Tomorrow 2,” which has been in various development stages going back at least four years with Liman attached to direct, but there had been multiple scheduling conflicts due to Cruise’s commitments at Paramount.

We’ll see how long this development process will take since Cruise has a busy schedule that has now been increased by this new Warner Bros. deal that will add on projects that likely haven’t even been announced.

SOURCE: PUCK NEWS & THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER