Eternals Runtime Confirmed By Director Chloé Zhao

[Animous]

Director Chloé Zhao has confirmed the runtime for Marvel's upcoming film, Eternals. Based on the Marvel Comics race of the same name, Zhao's new movie centers on an alien race that emerges from hiding to save Earth from their evil counterparts, known as the Deviants. The third film in the MCU Phase 4 plan takes place after the events of 2019's Avengers: Endgame, which sees Earth's mightiest heroes reverse Thanos' snap, inadvertently sparking the creation of something known as the "emergence" that endangers humanity.

Eternals boasts an impressive cast list set to appear as the new team of superheroes. The ensemble cast includes, Angelina Jolie, Kit Harrington, Salma Hayek, Kumail Nanjiani, Don Lee, Barry Keoghan, Harish Patel, Lauren Ridloff, and Brian Tyree Henry. Each actor is set to play one of the immortal members of the alien race, which was created by the Celestials and have lived on Earth for over 7,000 years. Dealing with such a span of time and a massive list of characters, Marvel's new film is shaping up to be a long one.

RELATED: Eternals' Origin Changes Open The Door For MCU Greek Gods

Zhao sat down for an interview with Fandango to discuss the upcoming Marvel movie, during which she confirmed the film's runtime of two-and-a-half hours. Making it one of the longest MCU movies yet, Zhao explains in the interview that the long runtime was intentional, even saying "It could be longer!" Zhao further justifies her claim saying, "You know, it’s ten characters, the Celestials and 7,000 years. There’s a lot going on."

To put Eternals' runtime into perspective, the shortest film in the MCU is tied between 2013's Thor: The Dark World and 2008's The Incredible Hulk, which both clock in at around 112 minutes. Side note, 2011's Thor is a close second, clocking in at 115 minutes long. On the other end of the spectrum, the longest film in the MCU is 2019's Avengers: Endgame (for good reason), which runs for a total length of 181 minutes (just over three hours). Beyond that, the second longest is 2018's Avengers: Infinity War, which runs for 149 minutes. So, while Eternals upcoming runtime is behind Endgame, Zhao's film easily takes the number two spot once it releases.

Given Zhao's inspiration of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which runs for about 139 minutes, it's no wonder her film blazes past the two hour mark. Going further, as Zhao points out in her interview, the upcoming Marvel film deals with a lengthy span of time and features a large ensemble cast. Therefore, the movie's runtime seems justified. After all, if fans could easily sit through Endgame's three-hour runtime, they should have no problem making it through Eternals two-and-a-half hour length.

[Silent Watcher]

Avoid unnecessary posts such as 'Thank you', 'Welcome', etc. Such posts will be deleted and user will be warned if it happens again. If caught spamming, the following actions are applicable -

• First time - Warning
• Second time - 5000 Points will be deducted
• Third time - Ban for 7 days
• Fourth time - Permanent Ban

If the post helped you, reward the user by reacting to the post like this -