Alan Ritchson's 'Runner' Hits Digital October 13, a Month After Its Theatrical Run

Alan Ritchson's busiest year in action is moving to the couch. Runner, the chase-driven action comedy he headlines with Owen Wilson, becomes available for digital rental and purchase on Tuesday, October 13, according to ComingSoon — roughly a month after the film opened in theaters on September 11. Collider reported the same October 13 premium video-on-demand date, and CBR reported that the digital release covers platforms including Prime Video, Apple TV and Fandango. For viewers who skipped the theatrical run, the wait between the big screen and the living room turned out to be a short one.

ComingSoon described Runner as Ritchson's third action outing of 2026, a statistic that says a lot about how completely the Reacher star has taken over the genre this year. The film was directed by Scott Waugh, whose earlier work includes Act of Valor and Need for Speed, and it was distributed by Angel Studios. ComingSoon listed the running time at 97 minutes, which fits the movie's premise: this is a story built around a clock, and it moves like one.

A delivery nobody can afford to lose

The setup, as ComingSoon summarized it, puts Ritchson's Hank Malone — an ex-soldier working as a high-end courier — in charge of a high-stakes medical delivery. Owen Wilson plays Ben Bishop, the reluctant partner pulled into the run alongside him. When a cartel comes after the cargo, an urgent job turns into a running fight, and the two men have to keep the shipment moving because a young girl's survival depends on it arriving in time. It is a clean, old-fashioned action premise: one package, one deadline, and a road full of people willing to kill to stop it.

That odd-couple pairing is the engine of the film. Reporting on the theatrical run, Collider noted that director Scott Waugh built Runner around the chemistry between Ritchson and Wilson, and ComingSoon reported that audiences responded to exactly that — the interplay between the two leads, and the way the film balances action, humor and heart. The supporting cast fills out both sides of the chase: ComingSoon listed Leila George as Kate Baker, Rodrigo Santoro as Damián Zaldívar and Peta Sergeant as Julie, with Miles Hubley and Tommy White credited as the screenwriters and Todd Garner, Mark Fasano, Jeffrey Greenstein and Ritchson himself among the producers.

Strong scores, soft ticket sales

The most interesting part of the Runner story is the gap between how the film played and how it sold. ComingSoon reported that the film stands at 77% with critics and 90% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes — numbers many September releases would happily take — and Collider likewise reported a 77% critics' score and a verified hot 90% audience score. ComingSoon also noted some reservations in the audience response, with fans calling the pace brisk and the plot straightforward, and saying the script leans on familiar action-comedy tropes rather than surprises.

At the box office, the returns were more modest than the reviews. ComingSoon put the global total at around $17.9 million, with North American theaters contributing approximately $14.4 million of that, after an opening weekend of about $6.46 million. Collider, citing Box Office Mojo figures in its own reporting, described a wide launch in more than 2,500 theaters that had narrowed to a few hundred locations as the digital date approached. Angel Studios distributed the film as part of a push beyond the faith-based audience the company is best known for, according to Collider — and Runner was always the kind of title that might find its real audience at home.

Why digital may be this film's home turf

There is a pattern in Ritchson's 2026 that makes the October 13 date feel less like an ending and more like a second opening. ComingSoon reported that his streaming work has dramatically outperformed his theatrical releases this year, pointing to his earlier 2026 successes on streaming and to the continued strength of Reacher and its spin-off Neagley on Prime Video. CBR made a similar point in its coverage, noting that Reacher has been one of Prime Video's biggest series and that a well-reviewed Ritchson action title could be positioned for a strong post-theatrical run once anyone with a remote can watch it.

That is the bet behind a one-month theatrical window. A 97-minute action comedy with two likable leads, a ticking clock and a 90% audience score is precisely the kind of movie that travels by word of mouth on streaming charts, where the cost of taking a chance is a rental fee instead of a trip to the multiplex. Viewers browsing our movies coverage this week will find Runner arriving in a crowded home-viewing season — it joins other fast theatrical-to-digital moves we have covered, including Robert Pattinson's Primetime setting its own digital date.

What happens next for Ritchson is already on the calendar. CBR reported that he stars opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Christmas action comedy The Man with the Bag, set for Prime Video on December 2, and that he is also attached to a biographical film about retired Navy SEAL Michael E. Thornton, directed by Patrick Hughes. In other words, even as Runner leaves theaters, its star is not slowing down — he is simply meeting his audience where most of them already watch him.

Runner is available to rent and buy digitally from October 13 on platforms including Prime Video, Apple TV and Fandango, according to CBR. If you are catching up on the week's screen news, browse the Previously browse hub, read the latest news, or check out today's other big streaming premiere, Netflix's TYSON docuseries.