The Stephen King trifecta: Three new movies on the way

First to hit screens is The Life of Chuck, a life-affirming, genre-bending story about three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles “Chuck” Krantz, Tom Hiddleston brings a genuine warmth to his portrayal of Chuck with Mark Hamill portraying his father.

Guaranteed to brighten your day, the uplifting movie also stars Karen Gillan, Matthew Lillard and Chiwetel Ejiofor with Jacob Tremblay playing a younger version of Chuck.

Based on King’s 2020 sci-fi fantasy novella, director Mike Flanagan is already well-schooled in the King-verse having previously directed adaptations of King's novels including Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep.

Fans have been longing to see The Life of Chuck ever since it won last year’s TIFF Audience Award,  and now they won't need to wait much longer with the Neon film scheduled for an August 21st release.

Next up an adaptation of King’s The Long Walk will jog into cinemas this September.

Directed by Francis Lawrence, the horror thriller stars Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davis, Jordan Gonzalez, Joshua Odjick, Josh Hamilton with Judy Greer.

Though it is not the first King book to be published, it is notable in that it is reportedly the first novel he ever wrote, while a student at the University of Maine. 

Published under his pen name Richard Bachman, The Long Walk is a dystopian thriller centring on the contestants of a gruelling and vicious annual walking contest that requires 100 boys to keep a certain pace without stopping. If they don’t maintain an average pace of about three miles an hour, they receive a warning. If it happens again, they are eliminated - and killed.

An intense, chilling, and emotional story, The Long Walk asks audiences to contemplate a haunting question: How far could you go?” 

Lawrence said he first read the novel 20 years ago and wanted to make it but couldn’t get the rights. “Luckily nobody made it,” he said, adding that his producer Roy Lee stayed on the case and brought it back to him once the rights became available. 

For the film’s star Jonsson, he said that the shooting took a physical toll on the actors as they walked about 10-15 miles each day during the “gruelling shoot.”

For Star Wars legend Hamill, the role marked an opportunity to play against type in his role as the film’s antagonist. “None of the actors wanted to meet me,” he quipped of playing the villain, noting that he was wearing shades to the CinemaCon event in a nod to how his character also hides his menace behind sunglasses. 

Director Edgar Wright had just finished shooting his new version of The Running Man a week earlier when he rolled into Las Vegas accompanied by his new “Running Man” Glen Powell, debuting thrilling new footage at Paramount's final day presentation.

Based on King’s 1983 dystopian thriller - again under the pen-name of Richard Bachman - Wright's film marks the second major Hollywood treatment of the story, the first 1987 adaptation starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Wright told the audience how the original novel had been a favourite of his as a teenager. “But the real story in that book has never quite been told quite the way it was written so when I got the opportunity to make this film the way that I’ve always seen it, I jumped right in,” says the British director.

“The Running Man is one of those movies that gives the audience someone to cheer for. At the centre of it is a guy called Ben Richards, a regular guy in a crazy not very different future where the world and media have gone out of control,” he says, noting, “And it’s worth pointing out that Stephen King’s original book was set in 2025.”

As Richards, Powell is forced to compete in this lethal reality show in order to provide medical care for his sick child, Josh Brolin playing the show’s cold-hearted producer Dan Killian.

Colman Domingo - as the game show’s MC Bobby Thompson - out-dazzles even Stanley Tucci’s Hunger Games host in his bravura and style.

Powell revealed how he’d turned to his Top Gun: Maverick co-star Tom Cruise for tips on how to look cool while running.

“And now that I’ve gone through the fire, sometimes literally, I can say I’ve never worked harder on a movie in my life,” says the Hit Man and Twisters star.

CinemaCon, the annual gathering of cinema owners and Hollywood studios, is hosted in Las Vegas by the newly rebranded Cinema United, which for decades was known as the National Association of Theatre Owners. 

Photographer: Getty Images for CinemaCon