Summary
Stephen King’s latest movie adaptation,The Life of Chuck, is impressing fans thanks to its strong performances and emotional story, but the box office numbers haven’t been high. The popular author recently posted on one of his social media accounts and praised the movie.
The Life of Chuckwas included inKing’s 2020 novella collectionIf It Bleedsalong with the storiesRat, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone,andIf It Bleeds. In the past few years, several of King’s horror stories have been adapted for film, includingSalem’s Lot,Osgood Perkins’sThe Monkey,Firestarter, andThe Boogeyman. The 2025 releases based on King’s beloved work are unique because, rather than vampires and demons, the movies are more grounded (but still powerful). InThe Long Walk, which was directed by Francis Lawrence, teenagers try to make it to the end of a lengthy and dangerous competition. While fans are enjoying the strong storytelling inThe Life of Chuck,the box office numbers have been unfortunate.
Stephen King posted on hisThreadsaccount recently and wrote:
“LIFE OF CHUCK: Support this extraordinary movie.”
While King approves of the adaptation and starMark Hamill praised it as well,The Life of Chuckonly grossed
$224,585 in its domestic opening weekend, according toBox Office Mojo. So far, as of June 24th 2025, its domestic gross has been $4,670,545, and its worldwide gross is $6,033,594. Although no information is available about the film’s budget, that is much lower than most King movie adaptations. In contrast,The Monkeygrossed
just over $14 million in its domestic opening weekend in 3,200 movie theaters.The Monkeyis definitely a big success story, likely due to the love that many fans have for King’s work and also the general popularity of the horror genre in the past few years.
In a recent interview, King said hewasn’t sure ifThe Life of Chuckwould do well at the box office. However, audiences are enjoying Mike Flanagan’s take on the moving story, which also stars Jacob Tremblay, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthew Lillard, Kate Siegal, Annalise Basso, Samantha Sloyan, Karen Gillan, andNick Offerman as the narrator. As Hamill said,King is known for writing horror books, but he has penned a lot of other types of stories, too.The Life of Chuck, whichtells Chuck Krantz’s story in reverse order and shows him at the end, middle, and start of his life, is one of King’s most memorable tales. It’s as haunting as his horror movie adaptations, but in a different way.
A fan replied to King’s Threads post and wrote, “What is the feeling like when a director perfectly nails one of your stories?” and King responded, “Good.” Several fans echoed this sentiment in their replies. Although the box office numbers aren’t great, audiences have responded positively toThe Life of Chuck. Fans called the movie “beautiful” and “fantastic.” One replied on Threads, “Please do yourself and someone you love a favor and see this amazing film.”
In a thread onReddit, some fans shared thatThe Life of Chuckisn’t playing in their town, and they haven’t been able to see it in the theater. As reported byForbes,the movie had a limited release on June 6th, 2025 and then, on June 13th, began playing in 1,072 theaters.
King’s next two movie adaptations arethe grimThe Long Walk, which will be out on September 12th, 2025, and the remake ofThe Running Man, which will be released on November 21st, 2025.
