'The Hunger Games' Meets Stephen King in HBO Max’s No. 1 Dystopian Thriller

By ben Margen13 July 2026

2025 was a huge year for Stephen King fans as many of his novels were adapted for TV and film, and one of these adaptations recently left a mark on streaming, dominating the charts. This project, in particular, was directed by Francis Lawrence, who is best known for his work on the Hunger Games movies. Not to mention, the film performed well at the box office and surpassed its reported budget. So, it's no surprise that fans are tuning in for the dystopian thriller once more on streaming.

In 2025, there were three movies and two TV shows that came out based on King's works, and there are more coming out in the future, including Prime Video's adaptation of Carrie that's scheduled to come out in 2026, an upcoming A24 project called Fairy Tale, and an upcoming series called Overlook, which is reported to be a spin-off of The Shining. It's no surprise that King's works are still being adapted, as not only were the 2025 projects well-received, but King remains one of the most iconic names in the literary space.

Over the weekend, The Long Walk has dominated the streaming charts, sitting at #1 on HBO Max's Top 10 Movies in the United States, just above Lee Cronin's The Mummy. Directed by Francis Lawrence, The Long Walk adapts King's 1979 novel of the same name, which takes place in an alternate version of the United States, now under a totalitarian military regime. Here, fifty teenage boys participate in an annual event called the "Long Walk," where they're tasked to walk non-stop at a certain pace, and those who stop and don't continue after three warnings are executed. After its release, The Long Walk earned $63 million worldwide and generated a Certified Fresh critics' score of 88% and an average audience score of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz
Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving?
Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky

Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you're not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.

🏕️Jason

🔪Michael

💤Freddy

🎈Pennywise

🪆Chucky

TEST YOUR SURVIVAL →

Something feels wrong. You can't explain it — you just know. What do you do?
First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.

ALeave immediately. I don't need to understand a threat to respect it.
BStay quiet and observe. If I can see it, I can understand it. If I can understand it, I can avoid it.
CStay awake. Whatever this is, I am not going to sleep until I feel safe again.
DConfront it directly. Fear grows in the dark — I'd rather know what I'm dealing with.
ECheck everything, trust nothing. The threat might be closer than I think — and smaller.

NEXT QUESTION →

Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong?
Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.

ASomewhere remote — a cabin, a campsite, off the grid and away from people.
BA quiet suburban neighbourhood where nothing ever happens. Except tonight.
CIn my own head — the most dangerous place of all, depending on what's already in there.
DWherever children are — because something about this place attracts the worst things.
ESomewhere ordinary — a house, a toy store, a place where the last thing you'd expect is a threat.

NEXT QUESTION →

What is your most reliable survival asset?
Every survivor has a quality the villain didn't account for. What's yours?

APhysical fitness — I can run, I can swim, I can outlast something that relies on brute persistence.
BSpatial awareness — I always know the exits, the hiding spots, the fastest route out.
CPsychological resilience — I've faced my worst fears before. They don't have the same power over me.
DEmotional steadiness — I don't panic. Panic is what gets you caught.
EScepticism — I don't underestimate threats because of how they look. Size is irrelevant.

NEXT QUESTION →

What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through?
Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.

AThe unstoppable — something that will not stop, cannot be reasoned with, and is always getting closer.
BThe invisible — a threat I can feel but can't locate, watching from somewhere I can't see.
CThe psychological — something that uses my own mind and memories against me.
DThe unknowable — something ancient, shapeless, that feeds on the fear itself.
EThe mundane — a threat so ordinary-looking that no one will believe me until it's too late.

NEXT QUESTION →

You're with a group when things start going wrong. What's your role?
Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn't.

AThe one who says "we need to leave" first — and means it, even when no one listens.
BThe one who stays quiet, watches the others, and figures out the pattern before anyone else does.
CThe one who holds the group together when panic sets in — because someone has to.
DThe one who asks the questions nobody wants to ask — because ignoring them gets people killed.
EThe one who takes the threat seriously when everyone else is laughing it off.

NEXT QUESTION →

What's the horror movie mistake you're most likely to make?
Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.

AGoing back for someone — I know I shouldn't, but I can't leave them behind.
BAssuming I'm safe once I've found a hiding spot. That's when it finds me.
CFalling asleep when I absolutely cannot afford to. Exhaustion is its own enemy.
DLetting my curiosity override my instincts — I always need to understand what I'm dealing with.
EDismissing the threat because of how it looks. That's exactly what it wants.

NEXT QUESTION →

What's your best weapon against something that can't be stopped by conventional means?
Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.

AThe environment itself — I use the terrain, the water, the geography against it.
BPatience — I wait, I watch, and I strike at the one moment it doesn't expect.
CLucidity — if I can stay in control of my own mind, it loses its primary weapon.
DCourage — facing it directly, refusing to run, taking away the fear it feeds on.
EImprovisation — I use whatever's at hand, however unconventional. Creativity over brute force.

NEXT QUESTION →

It's the final scene. You're the last one standing. How did you make it?
The final survivor always has a reason. What's yours?

AI kept moving. I never stopped, never hid for too long, never let it corner me.
BI figured out the pattern before anyone else did — and I used it against the thing following it.
CI stayed awake, stayed lucid, and refused to give it the one thing it needed most.
DI stopped being afraid of it. And the moment I did, everything changed.
EI took it seriously from the start — and I never once made the mistake of underestimating it.

REVEAL MY VILLAIN →

Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated
Your Best Chance Is Against…

Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.

Camp Crystal Lake · Friday the 13th

Jason Voorhees

Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.

He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn't strategise, doesn't adapt, doesn't outsmart. He simply pursues.
Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.

Haddonfield, Illinois · Halloween

Michael Myers

Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it's too late for anyone who isn't paying close enough attention.

But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
Michael's power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.

Elm Street · A Nightmare on Elm Street

Freddy Krueger

Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.

You are harder to destabilise than most. You've faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven't looked away.
The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
Freddy's greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.

Derry, Maine · It

Pennywise

Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.

The Losers Club didn't survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise's worst nightmare.
It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.

Chicago · Child's Play

Chucky

Chucky's greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it's already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.

You don't have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

Francis Lawrence Is Back With a New Project

Following The Long Walk, Lawrence will return with another feature based on a popular novel, hitting theaters later this year. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reapingis the second prequel to The Hunger Games franchise, based on Suzanne Collins' novel of the same name. This marks Lawrence's fifth movie in the franchise, as he's directed every Hunger Games movie except the first, which Gary Ross directed.

Sunrise on the Reaping takes place during the 50th Hunger Games, which happens to be the 2nd Quarter Quell, and the special ruling that year is that each district would send double the number of tributes in the arena, increasing the participants from 24 to 48. One of the tributes is Haymitch Abernathy (Joseph Zada), who eventually becomes a victor and Katniss' mentor in the main trilogy. The film will explore what happened during his time in the games and the aftermath of his victory.

The Long Walk is available to stream on HBO Max. Follow Collider for more updates.