AVENGERS: ENDGAME Director Explains Why It Needed To Be Three Hours

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When rumors were rampant on the run time of Avengers: Endgame, we told you about it. There were even comments from the Russos about that, saying things like the studio is fine with it because the story warrants that long of a time. Then, when AMC seemingly confirmed the 3 hour run time, we reported on it again. In case that wasn’t enough, here comes a third article telling you that Avengers: Endgame is over 3 hours, and why everyone at Marvel is okay with that.

Joe Russo, half of the co-directing duo responsible for Avengers: Endgame talked to Box Office Pro about the three hour cut, how it was always around that long, and why it pretty much needed to be that long:

“Even though we’ve shot a lot of footage between now and then, we’ve swapped things out and the water keeps rising to the same level because the story’s so dense. We have so many characters that we’re working with again that require that kind of run time. My brother and I are really committed to emotional stakes, and emotion requires story real estate. When you have a sprawling plot with a lot of characters and emotional stakes, it requires time to breathe emotionally. On the scale, you’re just going to wind up at a certain run time. We’ve been really hard on the film. We don’t like excessive run times; it’s just very difficult wrapping up 10 years of storytelling.”

He reassures people that it won’t feel like three hours (tell that to my bladder!). They are wholly dependent on test audiences to make sure their vision works.

“We try to create a density in storytelling that makes them feel compulsive, irrespective of the length. We’re very rigorous about storytelling points, and we spend months in the edit room twisting and turning the narrative a bunch of different ways until we think we’ve unlocked the best one. We’re vigilant about using test audiences to tell us whether we’re on the right track or we’re making bad decisions. With Endgame, it had one of the most incredible audience responses in Marvel history. Irrespective of the length, it’s been consistently embraced by the test audiences.”

Not sure what more can be said on the matter. Avengers: Endgame is three hours and two minutes long because it needs that long to tell the story, and to get the audience invested in its emotional stakes. Period. In most good movies, every frame has to fight to stay in. Which means if it’s there, it matters. It feels like that is the case here, it is just that a lot matters.

Avengers: Endgame hits theaters April 26th.

Source: Box Office Pro

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Matt Vernier

Lifelong geek who is passionate about movies. I review things on my blog: https://www.GeekyRegards.com. Find me on Twitter! @MattV525 - Inquiries: Mavern519@gmail.com

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