The runtime for It: Chapter Two has been revealed, and it's a doozy. Director Andy Muschietti confirmed to Digital Spy that the It sequel clocks in at 2 hours and 45 minutes. A runtime that epic may send some moviegoers with small bladders and restless legs running for the hills, but Muschietti has promised that the lucky few who have already seen It: Chapter Two in test screenings haven't had a single complaint about how long the film is.
The director explained that the lengthy runtime is simply the amount of time the story needed in the long-awaited It follow-up, and the extra 30 or so minutes in comparison to the original were totally necessary. Any other length would have meant dragging the story out or clipping it too short.
Muschietti explained further:
"A movie is very different when you're writing the script and you're building a story compared to what the final product is. 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 four-hour movie because people will start to feel uncomfortable, no matter what they see, but we ended up having a movie that is two hours and 45 minutes, and the pacing is very good."
For those iron-bladdered viewers who actually would love to see a four-hour version of It: Chapter Two, you may not get to experience such a thing in cinemas, but you'll surely be able to watch it from the comfort of your own home. It: Chapter Two producer Barbara Muschietti noted that there will most likely be a lengthier director's cut of the film, presumably included in a version of the film's home release. She said:
"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."
But fear not, fright fans. All the super-scary scenes are featured in It: Chapter Two, not left for an alternate cut. Director Muschietti promised that, quote, "...everything that is too scary is in the movie," which we can assume are all those horrifying scenes featuring a smarter, more manipulative Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and the sequence that features thousands of gallons of fake blood to make what has been reported to be the bloodiest scene in film history. The movie is also confirmed to include two controversial storylines from the book: a hate crime that wasn't included in the 1990 miniseries adaptation, and a domestic abuse plot that was.
165 minutes is a pretty hefty runtime, but it makes sense in context. It: Chapter Two has a lot of ground to cover, picking up 27 years after the events of the first film to follow the grown-up Losers' Club. Considering it has to cover a huge swath of Stephen King's more than 1,000-page novel, it's kind of a wonder the filmmakers got away with a runtime that came in at under three hours.
And, for context, It: Chapter Two clocks in at 17 minutes shorter than Avengers: Endgame. Fans flocked to the theaters in droves to see that film, which has gone on to become the best-earning movie in history, and largely found no fault with its substantial length. It stands to reason that if the biggest superhero movie of 2019 was super-sized and still performed that well at the box office, then the biggest horror movie of 2019 should have no trouble raking in big bucks regardless of its runtime.
It: Chapter Two floats into theaters September 6.
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