Special treadmill screening of The Long Walk
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Lionsgate will host a unique treadmill screening of The Long Walk. One Los Angeles theater will pair the film with a challenge that mirrors its story. This special event will take place at the Culver Theater in Los Angeles on August 30, where moviegoers must walk at a steady pace of 3 miles per hour on treadmills while watching the 108-minute film.
The story follows a dystopian competition in America where 100 young men must walk without stopping—if they pause for rest, they are executed. The cast includes Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Jordan Gonzalez, Josh Hamilton, Joshua Odjick, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill. Directed by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games) from a screenplay by J.T. Mollner, the film adapts Stephen King’s novel written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.
Participants in the treadmill challenge—pre-selected and including several influencers—will be escorted out of the theater if they stop walking. Those who endure to the end receive no reward other than seeing The Long Walk before general audiences. For this screening, Lionsgate will replace theater seats with rows of treadmills.
American critic Richard Roeper joked about the marketing stunt: “It’s clever. I’ll be watching the movie from a reclining leather chair with a glass of Pinot Noir. But afterward, I’ll walk home. Or maybe I’ll run, like the kids in Weapons.”
A cinematic adaptation of the novel has been in development for more than 40 years. George Romero first attempted it in the 1980s, followed by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) in the 2000s, and André Øvredal in 2019.
The Long Walk opens nationwide on September 12.
