The Russo Brothers are currently hard at work seeing Avengers: Endgame through post-production. It's certainly no easy task, considering that the movie is so far three hours long and it's likely that it will have to be trimmed down a little. The standard runtime for a film lives around the two-hour mark, something that the Russos think is due for a change.
The two-hour film has had a great run over 100 years. But it's become very difficult to work in. ... I'm not sure that the generation that's coming up will see the two-hour film as the dominant form of storytelling.
Generally, when you sit down for a movie, you know that it's going to be around a two-hour commitment. A movie can be longer or shorter than that, but generally, you won't find many films for longer than two hours and twenty minutes. It's been that way for 100 years, but the Russos suggest that it might be time for Hollywood to move on.
Attending the Business Insider Ignition (via Deadline), Joe and Anthony Russo touched on the subject of movie length. While it's not exactly clear if they think movies should be shorter or longer (or both), Joe Russo stated that the two-hour runtime might not cut it with a younger generation soon to be taking over as a key audience demographic. Storytelling is continually changing in the digital age, so shouldn't movies as well?
It's not too hard to see why the Russos would argue for longer movies. The directors have stated that the current cut of Endgame is three hours long. With so many characters, plot threads, and endings to deliver, it can be pretty tough to wrap it up in a satisfying way in a scant two hours. MCU fans seem to be onboard with a three-hour movie, but we'll know more the closer it gets to April.
It should be noted that Avengers: Infinity War was two hours and 40 minutes, making it the MCU's longest movie. Given that Endgame is the conclusion of that story, I can see that movie being around the same time or longer than Infinity War. It likely depends on if Disney gives the okay for a longer length. After all, the longer the film is, the fewer time slots it'll get at the movie theater.
We don't know if it'll be three hours or not, but we know more about Avengers: Endgame than we did two days ago. The movie released its long-awaited trailer on Friday, finally revealing the title of the blockbuster. We also learned that the film will indeed be arriving a week earlier than scheduled on April 26, 2019, so save the date! To learn more about the movie, here's everything we know so far.
