Could 'No Time To Die' be almost 3 hours long?
17-Jan-2020 • No Time To Die
The last two James Bond adventures have been long affairs. 'Skyfall' clocked in at 2 hours 23 minutes. 'SPECTRE' went further at 2 hours and 28 minutes. Prior to that, the longest film in the franchise was 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' at 2 hours 22 minutes, which most entries in the series on or around 2 hours.
An entry on a Russian theatre chain (seemingly from data via Universal Pictures Russia) has listed 'No Time To Die' with a provisional run time of 2 hours 54 minutes - almost 3 hours!
That would put the 25th James Bond film close to the epic run time of 'Avengers End Game' - which cruised in at 3 hours 2 minutes.
Even if the provisional run time actually is 174 minutes, 'No Time To Die' is still in post-production and that duration could decrease through the editing process.
One wrinkle that may come in to play is the fact that portions of 'No Time To Die' were shot on 70mm for IMAX presentation. Unlike 'Skyfall' that was shot digitally and distributed digitally on IMAX, 'No Time To Die' was shot on film and will be shown as a 70mm print in IMAX. This poses some logistical problems. 70mm IMAX was originally limited to a 45-minute duration due to the size and weight of the film platters. That has since been increased to 180 minutes with some re-engineering of the projection system. The longest film ever shown on IMAX 70mm was the recent 'Interstellar' that clocked in at 2 hours 47 minutes. The print weighed 600 pounds (272 kg) and took a forklift to move. Not quite as practical as a hard drive. Bond at 174 minutes would push IMAX to the breaking point.
Thanks to Anton for the tip.
