Get ready for more IT, a lot more.
While speaking with Digital Spy, IT: Chapter Two director Andy Muschietti revealed just how long he’s thinking his film will be:
“At the beginning, when you’re writing and building the beats of the story, everything that you put in there seems very essential to the story. However, when you have the movie finally edited and it’s four hours long, you realize that some of the events and some of the beats can be easily lifted but the essence of the story remains intact. You cannot deliver a 4-hour movie because people will start to feel uncomfortable – no matter what they see – but we ended up having a movie that is 2 hours and 45 minutes, and the pacing is very good.”
The filmmaker added:
“Nobody who’s seen the movie has had any complaint.”
It’s important to note that the film doesn’t come out until September, so there is still plenty of time for further edits, meaning this runtime isn’t set in stone. While it’s great to hear that they haven’t received any complaints about the film’s runtime and yes it’s based on a huge novel by Stephen King (over 45 hours long on audio book!), two hours and forty-five minutes is still a lot to ask of your audience, particularly those who do not get an intermission.
That said, Avengers: Endgame is over three hours long and just became the highest-grossing movie of all-time and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood just earned Quentin Tarantino’s his highest opening weekend ever and that boasts a similar two-hour and forty-five minute runtime, so maybe I’m overreacting.
Regardless of the theatrical cut’s length, it appears we’ll be getting even more footage once IT: Chapter Two hits home video, with producer Barbara Muschietti promising a director’s cut:
“We will put out a director’s cut because this time it definitely merits it. We have some amazing scenes that didn’t make it into the movie. You have to make choices sometimes and some things cannot be in this theatrical release but are definitely worthy of people seeing them at a later date.”
Could we be looking at a demonic clown movie which rivals Avengers: Endgame in length? We’ll have to wait to find out.
The first IT opened Sep. 2011 to the tune of $123.1 million, the highest opening weekend ever for a September release, for a fall release, and for a horror movie. It went on to earn over $700 million at the worldwide box office, making it the highest-grossing horror movie of all time. Needless to say, expectations are high.
The cast of IT: Chapter Two includes James McAvoy as Bill, Jessica Chastain as Beverly, Bill Hader as Richie, Jay Ryan as Ben and James Ransone as Eddie, with Andy Bean as Stanely Uris, Isaiah Mustafa as Mike, Teach Grant as Henry Bowers, Jess Weixler as Bill’s wife, Xavier Dolan as Adrian Mellon, Will Beinbrink as Tom Rogan and, of course, the return of Bill Skarsgård as the clown Pennywise.
What do you think about this long runtime for IT: Chapter Two? Do you think it will hinder the film’s performance at the box office? Jump down to the comments below and let me know what you’re thinking!
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