After the debut of the newThor: Ragnarok trailerand the colorful new poster at San Diego Comic-Con last week, Marvel’s next big blockbuster release is riding a new wave of buzz. Now we have word that it will hold a special distinction among MCU films. During an interview following the epic Marvel Studios Hall H panel, director Taika Waititi revealed the runtime ofThor: Ragnarok, making it easily the shortest movie in MCU history, by under 10 minutes. Here’s what the filmmaker had to say when asked specifically about the runtime.
“The cut right now, I reckon it’s about 100 minutes. It’s not gonna be a very, very long film. I think that stories are better when you leave them wanting more, and this film moves at a clip, it’s got stuff happening all the time. I think people are still gonna feel exhausted by the end, they’ve been on this big journey and stuff, so I don’t think we need the film to be three hours.”
Oddly enough, the shortest movie in the MCU’s 16-film catalog is 2008’sThe Incredible Hulk(112 minutes), which is also the lowest-grossing domestic movie ($134.8 million) in the franchise. Marvel’s biggest hit to date, 2012’sMarvel’s The Avengers, did hold the title of the longest film in the MCU (142 minutes) for several years, while also the highest-grossing at both the domestic ($623.3 million) and global ($1.5 billion) box office. WhileThe Avengersis still the highest-grossing MCU movie,Captain America: Civil Waris now the longestMCU movieat a whopping 147 minutes, as the most recent Marvel movies have tended to skew quite longer in recent years. When asked how much was cut from the film,Taika Waititidid confirm in his interview withColliderthere will be some hilarious deleted scenes fans will be able to see on the home video release.
“There will be a lot of deleted scenes. Great scenes. Funny, funny moments that, you can’t have it all. As I say you gotta kill those puppies, so we had to take some of those things out. Those scenes will exist so people will be able to see them.”
Neither of theThor 3predecessors were incredibly lengthy affairs, with 2011’sThorclocking in at 115 minutes and 2013’sThor: The Dark Worldcoming in at 120 minutes. Neither of these movies are among Marvel’s greatest box office hits either, withThorearning $181 million domestically andThor: The Dark Worldearning $206.3 million, which represent the 13th and 12th highest grossing MCU movies, out of 16. Regardless, with the inclusion of Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, who will supposedly go on a “cosmic road trip” with Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and several new characters like The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum),Valkyrie(Tessa Thompson), Skurge (Karl Urban) and the new villain Hela (Cate Blancett),Thor: Ragnarokcould most certainly become the most lucrative of the trilogy.
There could certainly be a number of benefits to a 100-minute Marvel movie, which could increase the re-watch value since fans might be more inclined to watch a movie for a second time in theaters if it’s just 100 minutes long, compared to a 147-minute action-packed epic likeCaptain America: Civil War. While the most recent Marvel movie,Spider-Man: Homecoming, clocked in at 135 minutes, Marvel has shown it can scale back as well, with last year’sDoctor Strangecoming in at 115 minutes, although that runtime falls in line with most of the “origin story” movies within the MCU. We’ll have to wait until November 3 to find out ifThor: Ragnarokwill in fact be a box office hit, but it will be interesting to see how fans react to news of this much shorter runtime.
