With Thor: Love and Thunder being just under a month away from premiering, movie theater chains have finally got their hand on the film’s more elusive data, including the revelation that Taika Waititi's second shot at the Norse god happens to be one of Marvel Studios' shortest movies ever.
The first trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder was released back in April, revealing the kind of journey that Thor will go through in what some speculate could be Chris Hemsworth's final film playing the character since he made his debut in the role in 2011. Funnily enough, Thor's first couple of solo films are also atop the list of shorter MCU movies, whose runtimes have gone in an uptrend over the last few years, as it’s now a rarity for any of them to last less than two hours.
All that makes it more interesting to find out from information posted by cinema companies like AMC and Cineworld on their official sites. It turns out Thor: Love and Thunder will stop just short of the two-hour mark when it premieres on July 8, with running time clocking in at 119 minutes (1 hour and 59 minutes). Although the two referred sites don’t contain any other jaw-dropping info, as has been the case for some blockbusters in recent years, it does confirm that Love and Thunder will be the first Marvel Studios film to date to last less than two hours since Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Including the upcoming Love and Thunder, out of the 29 MCU films so far released, only seven of them run for less than 120 minutes. Those films include Ant-Man and the Wasp (118), Ant-Man (117), Thor (115), Doctor Strange (115), Thor: The Dark World (112), and The Incredible Hulk (112). Waititi's Marvel Studios debut, Thor: Ragnarok, runs for a total of 130 minutes, but unlike the first two solo movies starring Hemsworth, it’s widely regarded among the better MCU flicks out there.
Waititi has teased Christian Bale's Gorr The God Butcher to be one of the MCU's best villains, though some will question if 119 minutes is indeed enough time for the Batman veteran to make his stamp on the film. This time around, Waititi is co-writing Love and Thunder alongside Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Sweet/Vicious and Unpregnant), but few would doubt the director’s capacity to craft an entertaining and funny plot, regardless of how much time he uses.
While Hollywood as a whole, and especially superheroes like The Batman, have been leaning towards longer movies, the likes of Doctor Strange and Thor prove that Marvel Studios movies can pull off beloved stories without the need for bathroom breaks.
Thor: Love and Thunder will premiere in theaters on July 8, 2022.
Source: AMC