By Leslie D. Soule

Film producer Lionsgate has set a date for the release of a theatrical version of Stephen King’s “The Long Walk”. It is currently set to release on September 12th of this year. Its opening will follow New Line’s release of the film The Conjuring: Last Rites.

“The Long Walk” stars Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davis, Jordan Gonzalez, Joshua Odjick, and Josh Hamilton, with Judy Greer and Mark Hamill making appearances. This film is based on the first novel written by Stephen King while he was a student at the University of Maine, and was published under pen name Richard Bachman.

The novel is considered a dystopian thriller, and focuses on an animal-walking contest amongst 100 boys, that requires them to keep a certain pace without stopping, under penalty of death. Francis Lawrence will be directing the film. He read the book twenty years ago, and wanted to turn it into a film but was unable to obtain the production rights, at the time.

Lawrence has stated that he is excited to direct this film, and previously worked on several of the Hunger Games films.