Glen Powell’s The Running Man Vs Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1987 Classic: Which Stephen King Adaptation Delivered A Better Earnings-To-Budget Ratio

This analysis examines which adaptation of The Running Man generated more earnings for every dollar spent - the 2025 film or the 1987 version.

- December 6, 2025 | 5:26 PM IST

Glen Powell’s The Running Man Vs Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1987 Classic (Photo Credit – Instagram/Prime Video)

Released on November 14, 2025, Edgar Wright’s dystopian action thriller, The Running Man, currently holds a 64% critics’ score and a 78% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. After completing three weeks in theaters, the box office momentum of the Glen Powell-starrer adaptation has slowed down.

With a current global total of $61.7 million, the film now appears unlikely to cross the $70 million mark during its ongoing run. That said, it is expected to break into 2025’s top 50 highest-grossing titles before the end of its theatrical run (Box Office Mojo).

This brings us to another key box office metric: which adaptation of The Running Man delivered a better box office performance relative to its budget – the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger version or the 2025 Glen Powell version? Let’s break down the numbers.

The Running Man (1987) Vs. The Running Man (2025) – Earnings & Budgets

Here’s how much the two Stephen King adaptations earned at the box office, along with their respective production budgets:

The Running Man (1987): Worldwide Earnings: $38.1 million | Production Budget: $27 million
The Running Man (2025): Worldwide Earnings: $61.7 million | Production Budget: $110 million

Earnings-to-Budget Performance

The above numbers make the comparison straightforward. The 1987 Running Man adaptation, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, earned roughly 1.4 times its production budget, marking a satisfactory financial return for its time. In contrast, the 2025 Glen Powell-led version has generated only about 0.56 times its budget so far.

This means the 1987 film not only achieved a significantly stronger earnings-to-budget ratio, but the 2025 adaptation has yet to recover its production cost. And with its current box office slowdown, it appears unlikely to reach that target during its ongoing theatrical run.

What’s The Running Man (2025) All About?

Directed by Edgar Wright, the sci-fi action thriller is set in a near-future and follows a man (Glen Powell) who is forced to participate in a deadly reality TV show called The Running Man. In this brutal game, survival itself becomes entertainment, as contestants must run for their lives while being hunted by professional killers for the amusement of a global audience.