The Long Walk

Francis Lawrence adapts the first novel Stephen King ever wrote. King began it in 1966 and 1967, during his freshman year at the University of Maine, and it reached print only in 1979 under the Richard Bachman name. JT Mollner’s screenplay moves the numbers around: the book’s 100 walkers become 50 here, one from each state, and the minimum pace drops from 4 to 3 miles an hour. Principal photography began in Winnipeg in July 2024 and ran largely in chronological order, so the bonds between the cast were built on camera. Lawrence estimates that Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson covered around 350 miles on foot over the shoot. Mark Hamill plays the Major who presides over the Walk. It was made for $20 million and took $63 million worldwide. Lionsgate promoted it in August 2025 with a Los Angeles screening that swapped a theatre’s seats for treadmills; anyone whose pace fell under 3 miles an hour was removed. Before Lawrence, the adaptation had carried other names for years, among them George A. Romero, Frank Darabont and André Øvredal. A good fit if you accept a plot that advances along one road through repeated steps and conversations. Not for anyone who would rather not watch teenagers executed one after another; the film puts those moments on screen.