Hollywood has turned several of Stephen King’s books into beloved movies over the years. Between older classics like Carrie, The Shawshank Redemption, or Stand By Me and newer adaptations of It or Doctor Sleep, some of the biggest directors and stars have worked on projects built from his source material.
2025 has been one of King’s biggest years ever. He’s had acclaimed movie debuts with The Life of Chuck and The Monkey, and there’s the start of It: Welcome to Derry on HBO Max a few days away. If you can’t wait until then for more from him, another one of his movies is finally available to watch at home.
The Long Walk Is Now Available On Digital After Earning Rave Reviews
As of today, October 21, Lionsgate has made The Long Walk available to buy or rent on digital services. The movie is an adaptation of King’s 1979 novel of the same name, which he wrote and published under his Richard Bachman pseudonym.
The Long Walk takes place in a dystopian America where teenage boys from each state participate in an annual contest to win a cash prize. They have to walk at a steady pace, above three miles per hour, without stopping until only one of them is left. Falling below the pace or breaking other rules results in death.
The film is directed by Francis Lawrence, the director of the last four Hunger Games movies, and features a great cast of rising stars — Cooper Hoffman (Licorice Pizza) and David Jonsson (Alien: Romulus) — as well as small roles for established vets — Mark Hamill (Star Wars) and Judy Greer (Halloween).
The Long Walk received overwhelmingly positive reviews upon its release, giving it an 88% score on Rotten Tomatoes. That makes it one of Stephen King’s 10 best movies critically, according to the review aggregator. ScreenRant‘s The Long Walk review by Todd Gilchrist praised the younger leads:
Viewers shouldn’t be surprised to see the two of them championed for real, non-genre awards attention at the end of the year. Ultimately, The Long Walk is a terrific, entertaining film with some interesting things to say about the state of the world.
In addition to the great performances from Hoffman and Jonsson, the movie is also quite a powerful and emotional experience, one that never lets up on the tension as another walker dies every few minutes. It’s a testament to Lawrence’s direction and JT Mollner’s script that the movie works as well as it does.
For King fans, The Long Walk makes some major changes to the book too, allowing even those who think they know what will happen to be surprised by how the story unfolds. If you have no familiarity with the novel, going in as fresh as possible is best.
With the ease of accessibility that now comes from its digital release, The Long Walk becomes a perfect watch for anyone who is a Stephen King fan, wants a darker version of the Hunger Games movies, or just wants to check out a great film.
