Eternals, the next entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is scheduled to premiere later this year and new information indicates that it might be one of the longest movies in the franchise so far.
According to Kino Metro, a Russian "Film Distributor Bulletin," the upcoming MCU film will be 156 minutes or two hours and 36 minutes long. This runtime beats out those of most other MCU movies, including Captain America: Civil War (two hours and 27 minutes), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (two hours and 16 minutes) and Avengers: Infinity War (two hours and 29 minutes); however, it does not eclipse the runtime for Avengers: Endgame (three hours and one minute).
While it is important to remember that this runtime has not been officially confirmed by Marvel Studios as of writing, Kino Metro has correctly listed runtimes for other movies ahead of time before (e.g., Halloween Kills and The Last Duel); as such, there's a strong chance that it's an accurate number.
It may take wo hours and 36 minutes to properly communicate director Chloé Zhao's superhero epic. Based on the trailers, the story appears to encompass a substantial portion of humanity's time on Earth, stretching from eons in the past to the modern day. The movie will also be the MCU debut of many new characters; beyond the Eternals themselves, this will be fans' first look at the Celestials and Dane Whitman (aka Black Knight). Finally, while Eternals is intended to be a standalone film, it will have major ramifications for the MCU as a whole.
While packing this amount of content into 156 minutes may seem like an overwhelming task, Marvel appears to have confidence in the project, considering the level of talent that has been brought on board. The large, star-studded cast includes Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Kit Harington and Angelina Jolie.
The information about the potential runtime for Eternals isn't the only recent news that has given fans hints about the movie. For example, a breakdown of the film's PG-13 rating revealed that it includes not only the expected violence and action but also "brief sexuality" surprisingly.
Eternals is currently expected to have a theater-exclusive release, starting on Nov. 5.
Source: Kino Metro, via The Direct