The most dangerous game influenced The Running Man

Connell wrote the premise every manhunt story since has used: a man is set loose and hunted by people for whom it is entertainment. King industrialises it. Zaroff hunts one castaway on a private island for his own amusement; the Games Network hunts Ben Richards on live television with a nation calling in sightings for a cash reward. The change is who the audience is, and it is the whole of what the later book is about.