''The Running Man'' is a 1987 American dystopian

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by Paul Michael Glaser and starring

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...

, María Conchita Alonso, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto, and

Jesse Ventura Jesse Ventura (born James George Janos; July 15, 1951) is an American politician, political commentator, actor, media personality, and retired professional wrestler. After achieving fame in the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), he ...

. The film is set in a

dystopia A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmen ...

n United States between 2017 and 2019, featuring a

television show A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...

where convicted criminal "runners" must escape death at the hands of professional killers. It is loosely based on the 1982 novel '' The Running Man'' written by

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

and published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. ''The Running Man'' was a moderate box office success in the United States, grossing $38 million on its $27 million budget, but opened to mixed reviews from critics. A new movie adaptation of the novel, directed by Edgar Wright and starring Glen Powell in the lead role, is set for release by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

in 2025.

Plot

By 2017, following a worldwide economic collapse and resource scarcity, the United States has become a totalitarian

police state A police state describes a state whose government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the exec ...

. The government maintains control through propaganda, censoring unsanctioned art, music, and communications. The most popular TV show, ''The Running Man,'' is a state-controlled game show where incarcerated criminals can earn their freedom by surviving as "runners" against lethal "stalkers". Captain Ben Richards is arrested after refusing orders to open fire on an unarmed food riot in

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of th ...

. His fellow officers massacre the rioters, and Richards is framed for the incident, being dubbed the "Butcher of Bakersfield." 18 months later, Richards escapes from a prison labor camp with two resistance fighters, Harold Weiss and William Laughlin. Although they offer him a chance to join the resistance, Richards is only interested in survival. He travels to his brother's apartment, only to find that Amber Mendez, a composer for the state broadcaster ICS, now lives there, as his brother was taken for "re-education." Richards forces Amber to help him bypass airport security, but believing him to be the "Butcher," she alerts the authorities. After his arrest, Amber sees news coverage falsely claiming Richards killed several people during the incident and begins to doubt his guilt. Meanwhile, the ruthless and narcissistic Damon Killian, host of ''The Running Man'', recruits Richards, hoping to boost the show's stagnant ratings. He threatens to replace Richards with Laughlin and Weiss unless he agrees to participate. As ''The Running Man'' begins, Killian reneges on his offer and sends Richards, Weiss, and Laughlin in rocket sleds to the game zone, an abandoned part of Los Angeles divided into four quadrants. The group is stalked by Subzero, a hockey-themed assassin whom Richards kills, marking the first time a runner has killed a stalker. Meanwhile, Amber is caught accessing the unedited Bakersfield footage and is sent into the game zone. Killian then dispatches two more stalkers, the chainsaw-wielding Buzzsaw and electric-shooting Dynamo. Richards kills Buzzsaw with his own chainsaw, though Laughlin is fatally injured. Weiss, meanwhile, discovers the satellite uplink controlling government broadcasts is inside the game zone and cracks the code for Amber to memorize before being killed by Dynamo. Richards incapacitates Dynamo but spares his life, to the audience's shock. When Killian secretly offers him a job as a stalker, Richards furiously declines. Amber discovers the corpses of the show's past "winners," realizing their victories were state propaganda, and Richards kills the flamethrower-wielding Fireball. The audience begins cheering for Richards while crowds outside place bets on his success. Richards and Amber are soon found by the resistance, led by Mic, and taken to their command center. Killian orders retired stalker Captain Freedom to face Richards, but he refuses unless he can fight him honorably without gimmicks. Instead, ICS edits existing footage to show Freedom killing Richards and Amber. Seeing this on TV, Richards realizes the government must now ensure they are not seen alive again. Using the satellite uplink codes, Mic airs an exposé of Killian's and the government's lies, including the unedited Bakersfield footage. At the same time, Richards leads the resistance members in a takeover of ICS to prevent the network from disabling the broadcast. At ICS, the resistance battles the security forces as the audience flees. Dynamo attacks Amber, but she triggers the sprinkler system, electrocuting him. Richards then confronts Killian, forcing him into a rocket sled and sending him into the game zone, where the uncontrolled vehicle crashes and explodes, killing Killian. As the audience and crowds celebrate, Richards and Amber kiss as the broadcasting network goes offline.

Cast

as Captain Benjamin Stuart "Ben" Richards * María Conchita Alonso as Amber Mendez * Yaphet Kotto as William Laughlin *

Jim Brown James Nathaniel Brown (February 17, 1936 – May 18, 2023) was an American professional American football, football player, civil rights activist, and actor. He played as a Fullback (gridiron football), fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the ...

as Fireball *

as Captain Freedom * Erland Van Lidth as Dynamo * Marvin J. McIntyre as Harold Weiss * Gus Rethwisch as Buzzsaw * Professor Toru Tanaka as Subzero * Mick Fleetwood as Mic *

Dweezil Zappa Dweezil Zappa (born Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa, September 5, 1969) is an American rock guitarist and occasional actor. He is the son of musical composer and performer Frank Zappa. Exposed to the music industry from an early age, Zappa develo ...

as Stevie * Richard Dawson as Damon Killian The cast of ''The Running Man'' also includes Karen Leigh Hopkins as Brenda, Sven Thorsen as Sven, Edward Bunker as Lenny, Bryan Kestner as Med Tech, Anthony Penya as Valdez, Kurt Fuller as Tony, Kenneth Lerner as Agent, Dey Young as Amy, Rodger Bumpass as Phil Hillton, Dona Hardy as Mrs. McArdle, Lynne Marie Stewart as Edith Wiggins, Bill Margolin as Leon, George P. Wilbur as Lieutenant Saunders, and Thomas Rosales Jr. as Chico.

Production

Christopher Reeve was once attached to play Ben Richards. In a 2015 interview about the film, Paul Michael Glaser said that he was originally approached to direct the film but declined because he felt that the preproduction period was insufficient. Director Andrew Davis was hired instead but was fired after just two weeks because the production was one week behind schedule; Glaser was then hired. Schwarzenegger has stated this was a "terrible decision," as Glaser "shot the movie like it was a television show, losing all the deeper themes." ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...

'' stated that the film's tone changed from a dark allegory to a humorous action film with the change of the film's star. With Reeve, ''The Running Man'' was about an unemployed man who goes on a violent game show for a thirty-day period to feed his family. With Glaser and Schwarzenegger, the protagonist became a condemned, but innocent, criminal forced into a three-hour gladiator-style game show by the justice system. Screenwriter Steven E. de Souza wrote fifteen drafts of the script over the course of the film's development. When the movie was shown to a test audience, the deepfake technology led them to believe the two main characters were actually killed. Only later, when Richards and Amber are seen again, did they realize they were still alive. But a producer claimed the audience would be too stupid to understand what happened, and ordered the movie to be edited so everyone knew right away that it was not the real characters that died. Pop star Paula Abdul choreographed the preshow dance sequences. This was her second film credit, though she had already choreographed four

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreogr ...

videos, as well as videos by

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969. For almost 56 years, it consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard (musician), Frank Beard, and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill prior to his death in 2021. ZZ ...

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. After several early changes, the band's line-up settled ...

, and

Debbie Gibson Deborah Ann Gibson (born August 31, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She released her debut album ''Out of the Blue (Debbie Gibson album), Out of the Blue'' (1987) at age 16, writing and largely producing the material. The a ...

. The music used for the preshow entertainment was composed by Jackie Jackson and was dubbed "Paula's Theme" in honor of Paula Abdul. The producers originally wanted

Chuck Woolery Charles Herbert Woolery (March 16, 1941 – November 23, 2024) was an American television host, actor, and musician. He had long-running tenures hosting several game shows. Woolery was the original host of the original daytime '' Wheel of Fortun ...

to play Damon Killian, but Woolery was unavailable due to his hosting jobs on '' Love Connection'' and ''

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a Board game, game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, re ...

''.

suggested Richard Dawson play Killian because he and Dawson were close friends and Schwarzenegger is a fan of '' Family Feud'', which Dawson hosted. The film's release was postponed from summer 1987 to

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

1987 due to the producers' desire for the film to be the only action thriller released during the holiday season. The film opened on 1,600 screens on November 13, 1987, to moderately positive reviews.

Music

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was composed by Harold Faltermeyer and includes music by

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

, Jackie Jackson, Glen Barbee, and John Parr, who performed the main theme of the film, " Restless Heart (Running Away With You)" (written by John Parr and Harold Faltermeyer and produced by Faltermeyer) and played during the final scene and end credits. An expanded Deluxe Edition, featuring the full score along with source music and previously unreleased alternate cues, was released in 2020 by Varese Sarabande (who also released the original album in 1987) on both CD and vinyl. Being also an opera singer, wrestler and actor Erland van Lidth performs in his role as Dynamo part of the

aria In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

"Hai già vinta la causa... Vedrò mentr'io sospiro" out of Mozart's ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienn ...

''.

Release

Home media

Artisan Entertainment released the film on DVD in December 1997, and again in 2004. The 2004 release includes new special features, audio commentaries and surround sound mix. On February 9, 2010,

Lionsgate Lions Gate, Lion Gate or similar terms may refer to: Gates *Lion Gate at Mycenae in Greece *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the ancient Hittite city of Hattusa, now in Turkey *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the gardens of Hampton Court Pala ...

released the film on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

with a 7.1 surround sound mix. Olive Films (under licence from Paramount, who owns the film due to having the Taft Pictures library) re-released the film on DVD and Blu-ray, with the original 2-channel surround mix, on February 19, 2013. In 2022, for the film’s 35th anniversary, Paramount Home Entertainment announced an Ultra HD 4K Blu-ray release of the film on November 8, 2022. The disc will include HDR-10,

Dolby Vision Dolby Vision is a set of technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories for high dynamic range (HDR) video. It covers content creation, distribution, and playback. It includes dynamic metadata that define the aspect ratio and adjust the picture ...

, and the 7.1 surround mix. Paramount also owns the TV and streaming rights.

Lawsuit

A lawsuit determined the movie was plagiarized from the 1983 French film '' Le Prix du Danger'' (''The Price of Danger'') directed by

Yves Boisset Yves Félix Claude Boisset (14 March 1939 – 31 March 2025) was a French film director and screenwriter. Early life Boisset was born 14 March 1939, in Paris, France. He studied at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC). ...

, which was made after Robert Sheckley's 1958 short story " The Prize of Peril", just like the 1970 West German TV movie '' Das Millionenspiel'' (''The Million Game'').

Reception

Box office

In ''The Running Man''s opening weekend, it was released in 1,692 theaters and grossed $8,117,465. The film's total domestic gross was $38,122,105.

Critical response

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, complaining that "all the action scenes are versions of the same scenario", but praised Dawson's performance, stating that he "has at last found the role he was born to play."

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote that the film "has the manners and gadgetry of a sci-fi adventure film, but is, at heart, an engagingly mean, cruel, nasty, funny send-up of television. It's not quite '' Network'', but then it also doesn't take itself too seriously." '' Variety'' wrote that the film "coarsens the star's hitherto winning formula" and "works only on a pure action level," calling the satire "paperthin and constantly contradicted by the film wallowing in the sort of mindless violence for the

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played on an oval track by two teams of five skaters. It is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leaguesA Roller Derby league is synonymous with an individual club or team in other team sports, as ...

-addicted masses it is supposedly criticizing." Dave Kehr of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' gave the film two stars out of four and wrote, "It's a format all right, but it may be too much of a format for a feature-length film. With Arnold Schwarzenegger, a former state security officer framed as the perpetrator of a notorious public massacre, sitting in as victim-of-the-week, ''The Running Man'' has little to do but run through the game's four stages." Michael Wilmington of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' declared, "''The Running Man'' is, by far, Schwarzenegger's best vehicle since ''

The Terminator ''The Terminator'' is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, written by Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd and produced by Hurd. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cybernetic assassin sent back in t ...

''—not such high praise if you recall what came in between—and it suggests that his

Frank Frazetta Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American artist known for themes of Fantasy art, fantasy and science fiction, noted for comic books, mass market paperback, paperback book covers, paintings, p ...

frame shows best in these fantasy sci-fi settings ... For the right audience, it'll be fun. It's for action fans with a taste for something off the beaten track—but not too far." Rita Kempley of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' called the film "a fast-paced, futuristic purée of ''

Beat the Clock ''Beat the Clock'' is an American television game show. Contestants attempted to complete challenges such as physical stunts within a time limit in order to win prizes. The show was a creation of Mark Goodson- Bill Todman Productions. The sho ...

'', Max Headroom,

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

and '' The Most Dangerous Game''. Pumped and primed for self-parody, the burly star proves as funny as he is ferocious in this tough guy's commentary on America's preoccupation with violence and game shows." On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film has a score of 67% based on reviews from 48 critics, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's critical consensus states, "''The Running Man'' is winking sci-fi satire with ridiculous clothes and workmanlike direction". On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

the film holds a score of 45 out of 100 based on reviews from 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. On the film's 30th anniversary in 2017, ''The Running Man'' was cited by a BBC journalist as having made accurate predictions about life in 2017, including an economic collapse, and offering a critique of American television culture. The film's writer Steven de Souza himself reinforced these predictions in a podcast interview with '' Vice Magazine''s "Motherboard" section. Reed Tucker of the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' said in 2019 that the film "correctly predicted ... the widening gap between the rich and poor", depicting homeless shantytowns and skyscrapers for the wealthy resembling the real New York City and Los Angeles, and societal obsession with reality TV. De Souza said one of the producers of '' American Gladiators'' sold his show with clips from ''The Running Man'', telling the network "We're doing exactly this, except the murdering part".

Other media

Video game

In 1989, a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

based on the film was released for the

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for "Colour Personal Computer") is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spec ...

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

, and

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

. The game was developed by Emerald Software and published by Grandslam Entertainments. The 1990 video game '' Smash TV'' was inspired by ''The Running Man''.

Remake

On February 19, 2021,

announced that it would make a new film adaptation of the novel, one that would be more faithful to the source material. Edgar Wright will direct and reimagine the story with Michael Bacall, the latter of whom will pen the screenplay.

Simon Kinberg Simon David Kinberg (born August 2, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He wrote and produced a number of films in the X-Men (film series), ''X-Men'' film franchise for 20th Century Studios, 20th Century Fox, and had produced a number of other projec ...

and Audrey Chon will produce through Kinberg's

Genre Films Genre Films, usually credited as Kinberg Genre, is a production company founded by screenwriter-producer-director Simon Kinberg. History Genre Films in April 2010 signed a first-look deal with 20th Century Fox, which gave Fox "direct access" ...

banner, alongside Nira Park from Wright's Complete Fiction banner. In April 2024, it was announced Glen Powell would star in the remake. Production is scheduled to begin in November 2024. On October 4, 2024, ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' revealed that Katy O'Brian had joined the cast. On October 17,

Josh Brolin Josh James Brolin (; born February 12, 1968) is an American actor. A son of actor James Brolin, he gained fame in his youth for his role in the adventure film ''The Goonies'' (1985). After years of decline, Brolin had a resurgence with his starr ...

was announced to be playing the antagonist. On October 18th Lee Pace was announced to play the chief hunter. On October 25th

Michael Cera Michael Austin Cera ( ; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor. Over his career he has received nominations for a British Academy Film Award, three Critics' Choice Movie Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award. Cera beca ...

(who'd previously collaborated with Wright and Bacall on '' Scott Pilgrim vs. the World'') and Emilia Jones joined the cast. The film is set to release in November 7, 2025.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Running Man, The 1987 films 1980s American films 1980s chase films 1980s dystopian films 1980s English-language films 1980s science fiction action films 1987 action films American chase films American science fiction action films American dystopian films English-language science fiction action films Films about death games Films about quizzes and game shows Films about television Films based on American novels Films based on science fiction novels Films based on works by Stephen King Films directed by Paul Michael Glaser Films produced by George Linder Films produced by Tim Zinnemann Films scored by Harold Faltermeyer Films set in the future Films set in 2017 Films set in 2019 Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Los Angeles Films with screenplays by Steven E. de Souza Social science fiction films TriStar Pictures films Taft Entertainment Pictures films 1987 science fiction films English-language action thriller films Saturn Award–winning films