The Longest Walk: An endurance-laced PR stunt for Stephen King's latest movie

Lionsgate’s campaign for The Longest Walk made headlines this month with advance screenings staged on treadmills. To watch the film, participants had to remain in motion for the entire runtime, mirroring the protagonist’s ordeal of walking under impossible conditions. The event was small in scale but large in symbolism, turning a survival thriller into a literal test of endurance.

Why treadmills?

The choice wasn’t random. The treadmill stunt was designed to:

• Reinforce the narrative: Viewers “walked the walk,” embodying the film’s central conceit.

• Create immersive spectacle: Rows of treadmills provided a striking visual for both attendees and the cameras covering it.

• Generate press and social content: The oddity of sweating through a movie was inherently shareable, and clips quickly found traction on TikTok and Instagram.

Unlike traditional promotional tactics, this stunt worked because its logic was symbolic, not superficial and it extended the story into physical reality.

Scale versus story

Actual participation was minimal. Fewer than 200 people in New York and Los Angeles took part, but that was never the true objective. The real audience was the millions who would later encounter the images online or in news headlines.

• Coverage appeared across Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today.

• TikTok clips tagged with #LongestWalkChallenge surpassed 9 million views within days.

• Earned media value is estimated in the $2–3M range, well above the modest cost of staging.

Here the “return on investment” isn’t in ticket sales from treadmill attendees, but in turning a mid-tier release into a story amplified by mainstream press.

Comparing precedents

Other films have proven how experiential stunts can scale when paired with at-home participation:

• Bird Box (2018): the “blindfold challenge” became a global meme, fueling record-breaking Netflix viewership.

• Fall (2022): TikTok creators filmed themselves on precarious ledges, helping double the film’s box office vs. projections.

By contrast, The Longest Walk treadmill screenings remain confined to a handful of events. Without a participatory extension (like step-count challenges through fitness apps or UGC campaigns), the buzz risks plateauing.

Takeaway for marketers

The treadmill screenings succeed as symbolic PR: thematically aligned, visually striking, and effective at generating earned media disproportionate to their cost. But they also illustrate the limits of small-scale spectacle. Without ways for audiences everywhere to join in, the campaign risks being remembered as a curiosity rather than a movement.

Key Takeaway: Experiential stunts are most powerful when they spark a replicable story. Making audiences walk was a clever start; turning that walk into a shared cultural challenge is the next step.

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