Get ready for the onslaught of “No Time To Pee” jokes that are soon to hit social media, as it appears Regal Cinemas (one of the biggest theater chains in the US) has revealed that the newest James Bond feature, “No Time To Die,” is going to clock in at 163 minutes in length (that’s 2 hours and 43 mins for those not great at math). And yes, as the joke implies, you may want to go to the bathroom right before your screening and skip that extra-large jug of soda.
READ MORE: Phoebe Waller-Bridge Explains What She Wrote In ‘No Time To Die’ & How She Landed The Gig
For comparison’s sake, the 163-minute runtime beats the previous Bond record set by “Spectre,” which clocked in at 148 minutes long. Of course, 15 minutes might not sound like a huge difference, but if you invite someone to a movie that’s less than 2.5 hours and a movie that’s almost 2 hours and 45 minutes, what do you think they’re going to say? There’s a psychological barrier that prevents many people from taking the leap if a film eclipses that 150-minute length.
Obviously, there’s no way that anyone can definitively say that the 163-minute runtime is going to somehow hurt the film’s box office chances. While it’s been true that longer films do suffer a bit with the casual moviegoer, there’s also very recent proof that shows the opposite. Last year’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” clocks in at 160 minutes and went on to gross $374 million worldwide. Not shabby for an R-rated film from Quentin Tarantino, right?
And then you have “Avengers: Endgame.” The current box office champion ($2.8 billion worldwide) has a super-sized runtime of 181 minutes, just 18 minutes more than “No Time To Die.” Sure, it’s not fair to compare Marvel Studios’ behemoth to “No Time To Die,” as the latter franchise doesn’t have the current cultural cache that the MCU holds, but Sony is clearly hoping that the Bond film’s box office does reach greater heights than the $880 million that “Spectre” earned in 2015. And much like ‘Endgame,’ the new Bond film is a swan song for a lead actor, Daniel Craig.
READ MORE: Barbara Broccoli Talks Future James Bond Casting: “He Can Be Of Any Color But He Is Male”
Financial speculation aside, one thing is for sure— “No Time To Die” is a long movie. The longest ever for a Bond film. So, film fans better prepare for a long sit on April 8.
