First trailer for dystopian horror movie from Hunger Games director based on an underrated Stephen King novel features the contest from hell

The first trailer for the long-awaited adaptation of Stephen King's dystopian horror novel The Long Walk is here – and it's everything I hoped it would be.

In the brief clip, which can be viewed below, a group of young men embark on a walking contest with a grand prize at the end. Everyone is smiling, laughing, and strolling along until one of the men stops walking – and is shot dead on the spot.

Here are the rules: the men must walk along without stopping, along U.S. Route 1. Each Walker must keep his pace above 3 miles per hour (4 miles per hour in the book) and receives a warning if he drops below this speed for 30 seconds.

If he walks for an hour without earning another warning, the first one will be canceled out.

If a contestant gets three warnings and fails to keep walking, he is eliminated –AKA shot by the U.S. Army and left on the road to die.

The goal is to walk until one person remains. In the book, the grand prize is determined by the winner. In the trailer, it seems to be an ungodly amount of money.

The Long Walk - Official Trailer - YouTube

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The cast includes Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Mark Hamill, Garrett Wareing, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davis, and Judy Greer. Hunger Games franchise director Frank Lawrence directs from an adapted screenplay by JT Mollner (Strange Darling).

A Long Walk movie has been in the works since 1988, with George Romero initially attached to direct. Since then the film has cycled through directors, with Frank Darabont (director of Academy Award-winning King adaptations The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile) acquiring and eventually losing the rights to the novel.

In 2018, Lionsgate announced that the adaptation would move forward with James Vanderbilt (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) directing, before André Øvredal (Last Voyage of the Demeter) was set to take over in 2019. Sheesh.

The Long Walk is set to hit theaters on September 12, 2025. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2025 and beyond.