The Long Walk, a new dystopian horror movie based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name, now has a release date – and it’s only a few months away.
During Lionsgate’s presentation at this year’s CinemaCon, it was announced that the movie would be released this September, and a trailer was unveiled behind closed doors, too.
First published in 1979, King’s novel is set in an alternate version of the US and follows the contestants of the Long Walk, an annual, televised competition in which 100 teenage boys must walk non-stop along Route 1. If a contestant’s speed drops below four miles per hour for 30 seconds, he gets a warning – after three warnings, he’s shot dead. The prize up for grabs is entirely up to the winner.
Licorice Pizza’s Cooper Hoffman and Alien: Romulus‘ David Jonsson lead the ensemble cast, which also includes Mark Hamill, Judy Greer, All the Money in the World’s Charlie Plummer, and Karate Kid: Legends‘ Ben Wang. The movie was directed by The Hunger Games and Constantine helmer Francis Lawrence.
In the new trailer, Deadline reports that “a villainous Hamill fires the starting gun and says, ‘Walk until there is only one of you left.’ The boys set out, walking and talking, even joking, Surrounded by tanks on the long dusty road, they realize their situation is truly grim as friends are injured and killed and their ranks dwindle. “You walk as long as you can,” says Hamil in voiceover. “For some, the heart will stop, for other the brain, and the blood will flow… There’s one winner and no finish line.'”
“This is my favorite Stephen King novel, I read it 27 years ago,” Lawrence said when he took to the stage. “The rights hot bought and then came back up. Roy Lee, my producer, brought it to me. For me, it was the conceit that was very interesting. You can imagine yourself in the shoes of these young men. World building – the heart of the movie for me is about these young men, their camaraderie, the love that forms. This isn’t a try to knock each other out competition, but how we can hold each other up competition.”
The Long Walk arrives on the big screen on September 12. In the meantime, check out our guide to the other best upcoming horror movies still to come in 2025.
