Runtimes are funny things. Just look at Avengers: Infinity War. Reports are swirling around that the third Avengers flick is going to be the longest MCU movie ever (beating the previous best of Captain America: Civil War which clocks in at 147 minutes). A little bit of digging, however, indicates something very different. Namely, no one knows anything. Go figure.
First up, the rumour: AMC Theatres is listing a runtime of 156 minutes for Infinity War. Seeing as how the movie is fitting in seemingly every superhero who ever put on a pair of spandex tights, that makes a whole lot of sense.
However, two UK cinema chains don’t quite chime with that piece of information. Both Cineworld and Empire Cinemas have the movie coming in at a nice, round 140 minutes. Unless the US is getting more footage (very unlikely), then something has to give.
That’s where things get even murkier. Philippines cinema chain SM Cinemas revealed last month (via Reddit as the post has now been amended) has the movie lasting 150 minutes. What’s up with that?
Misinformation seems to be spreading like wildfire. Let’s cut through the thicket of speculation: AMC Theaters is the most recent of the listings. That would indicate that 156 minutes is looking likelier than the suspiciously clean numbers of 140 and 150 minutes respectively.
However, there’s always the case of post-credit scenes possibly being ignored for the runtime, or some scenes being amended for foreign markets. If that’s the case, 150-minute runtime, plus a 6-minute end-to-end credits sequence (involving a few post-credits scenes) doesn’t seem completely out of the question.
Of course, a runtime doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, but it’s still useful to see how long we’ll be spending in the company of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Is Avengers: Infinity War the longest MCU movie yet? My gut says maybe, the times say possibly and – honestly – nobody knows for sure until April 25.
