Brand-New Stephen King Movie Loses Box Office Battle To Hit Crime Thriller

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Stephen King’s underrated survival thriller film The Long Walk has just been overtaken at the domestic box office by Now You See Me: Now You Don’t. Despite winning the box office battle, the new heist movie isn’t faring as well with critics.

Collider reports that Now You See Me: Now You Don’t has grossed $42.6 million at the domestic box office, pulling ahead of Stephen King’s The Long Walk‘s entire domestic earnings, which came in at $35 million. The highly-anticipated installment in the Now You See Me film series has also blown past the King adaptation globally, where it has currently grossed $187 million worldwide — a much higher number than The Long Walk‘s $63 million receipts.

While commercial success may tip in favor of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, The Long Walk has proven to be the clear winner when it comes to critics and audiences. The thriller film is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 88% approval rating, significantly higher than Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, which is still ‘fresh’, but sits at 61%. Both films have proven to be enjoyed by audiences, with The Long Walk earning an 85% on the Popcornmeter, while Now You See Me‘s latest installment earned a respectable 81%.

Based on King’s 1979 novel published under his pseudonym Richard Bachman, The Long Walk details the story of fifty boys living in a dystopian America who compete in a televised walking marathon. Failure to maintain a pace of three miles per hour ends in death — and only the last boy standing will walk away with a large cash prize. The film’s ensemble cast includes Mark Hamill, Cooper Hoffman, Charlie Plummer and Ben Wang, among others.

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t sees the beloved Four Horsemen returning alongside a new generation of illusionists, offering audiences plenty of magic that they’ve never seen before — which might explain why the film has blown past The Long Walk at the box office. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan and Morgan Freeman all return from previous films, with new cast members including Rosamund Pike, Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa and Ariana Greenblatt.

The Long Walk Is Already Becoming a Hit on PVOD

Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection

While The Long Walk‘s box office run may have recently concluded, the film is already finding new success as it heads to digital platforms. It debuted in first place on the iTunes Charts at the end of October. The film has yet to confirm its streaming release date at this time.

Even though it couldn’t keep pace with Now You See Me, The Long Walk has still proven to be a financial success for Lionsgate, with its $63 million box office haul proving to be a respectable number given its $20 million budget. 2025 has also seen a string of other successful King adaptations, including Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey, It: Welcome to Derry and The Running Man.

The Long Walk is now available on PVOD, and Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is now playing in theaters.