Lionsgate tests pace with treadmill screening of The Long Walk

A Los Angeles theater has been converted into a treadmill to test whether audiences can keep pace with a dystopian thriller set to open next month. Lionsgate will stage an influencers-only screening of The Long Walk at the Culver Theater on August 30 in which attendees must walk on treadmills at a set pace for the film's duration or be removed, a studio press release and venue confirmed. The adaptation of Stephen King's novel arrives in cinemas on September 12.

The activation echoes the film's premise. In the story, 50 teenage boys compete in an annual walking contest in an alternate United States where anyone who slows or stops is eliminated. The studio's press release and several reports say the treadmill attendees must maintain a speed of at least 3 miles per hour, and those who falter will be escorted out. Some early coverage of promotional clips described a 4 miles per hour requirement in the fictional contest and noted film rules that allow limited brief pauses before lethal enforcement. Reports varied on the exact pace cited, with the studio describing the screening challenge as aligned with the book's strict pacing.

Directed by Francis Lawrence, the film stars Cooper...