The Long Walk screening will ‘eliminate’ viewers with treadmill challenge

For participants in this weekend’s The Long Walk “treadmill elimination event,” the task is simple: walk or… miss the movie.

The new Stephen King adaptation (directed by The Hunger Games’ Francis Lawrence) has an incredible premise: in a dystopian America, a group of young men enter a contest where they have to keep walking (at a speed of at least 3mph), and it only ends when one person is left standing.

The question is, how far could you go? Three miles per hour isn’t that fast; the average walking pace is anywhere between 2.5mph and 4mph, so if you’re relatively fit, you should be okay. However, if that was the case, nobody would ever win the contest – in other words, don’t underestimate the challenge.

This weekend, viewers will put the movie’s challenge to the test in a Los Angeles cinema.

The Long Walk “treadmill elimination” screening sounds amazing

The screening, which is taking place in Culver Theater on Saturday, August 30, will see influencers and film fans “put to the test to see if they can follow the rules of The Long Walk – walking above 3mph without stopping – throughout the entire film.”

That’s 108 minutes of constant walking. “If they stop, they will be pulled from the screening and escorted out of the theater,” the press release reads. If they make it through the movie, there isn’t a prize – other than getting to see the whole film early, of course.

In order to make the challenge feasible, the Lionsgate team has retrofitted the cinema to house a collection of treadmills instead of seats.

Lionsgate

Unfortunately, the participants for the screening have already been chosen, so you’ll need to wait until the movie comes out on digital so you can watch it on your phone in the gym or on your TV as you take a stroll on your walking pad.

Regardless, the idea behind the screening has been praised by fans, including Gen V star Patrick Schwarzenegger. “This is a kinda fun marketing idea. I can’t wait to watch this movie – looks awesome,” he wrote.

“Cool. I’m going to attend a screening where I can watch it from a reclining leather chair while nursing a Pinot Noir. However, I will walk home after. Or maybe I’ll run like the kids in Weapons,” critic Richard Roeper joked.

Tickets for The Long Walk are on sale now, and it hits theaters nationwide on September 12. See what else is dropping this year with our 2025 movie calendar and check out our list of the best horror movies of all time.