Everyone who said they wanted more IT are getting more. A lot more. A hell of a lot more.
Director Andy Muschietti confirmed to Digital Spy that IT: Chapter Two is going to be long. How long? Well, how about 2 hours and 45 minutes? That’s right, nearly three hours of Pennywise terrorizing the Losers Club (and you). That’s almost as long as Avengers: Endgame. Hell, that’s almost as long as Titanic. That’s one long-ass horror movie.
Here’s what Muschietti said about the epic runtime:
“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 4 hours long, you realise that some of the events and some of the beats can be easily lifted but the essence of the story remains intact. ”
He thoughtfully added: “You cannot deliver a 4-hour movie because people will start to feel uncomfortable – no matter what they see – but we ended up having a movie that is 2 hours and 45 minutes, and the pacing is very good.”
Look, I loved IT but I agree with Andy: you can’t have a 4-hour movie. You can have a 4-hour directors cut and I hope he does! I’d love to see it. But a theatrical release? 4 hours is just too damn long for us lazy Americans. 2 hours and 45 minutes is pushing it for most people, myself included. But Mr. Muschietti delivered so well with the first film that I have nothing but faith in his sequel. A nearly three-hour horror film? Count me in. I’ll just bring an orthopedic cushion because I’m an old man.
Muschietti says the daunting runtime hasn’t upset any early viewers. He says “Nobody who's seen the movie has had any complaint.” I’ll believe it.
IT: Chapter Two promised to be one of the biggest horror films of all time. Now it seems like it’ll be one of the longest too.