After the trailer for Avengers: Endgame pulled in 289 million views in its first 24 hours in 2019, No Way Home just set a new record. The upcoming MCU film collected 355.5 million global views within 24 hours after the first teaser for the film dropped at CinemaCon 2021. It’s safe to say that Marvel, Sony, and Disney are all guaranteed to have a huge hit on their hands this coming December. With that said, the ever-churning rumor mill just shifted into a much higher gear as it fills up with numerous speculation and leaks about No Way Home. Although the vast majority of this information is inconsequential and hearsay, some are worth singling out. In particular, there’s a rumor going around that No Way Home will have a 150-minute runtime.
Is a 2-hour-plus runtime enough for No Way Home to tell a cohesive story?
Two more MCU films are set to premiere before Spider-Man: No Way Home drops in December 2021. However, the upcoming Spider-Man film is the one that people are talking about the most, and rightfully so. Although Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals are all worth watching, as both are expected to bring in an entirely new set of characters into the MCU, No Way Home represents a bigger leap for the popular film franchise. No Way Home marks the first time that the MCU will truly explore the multiverse in a movie. Fans are presently busy dissecting the official trailer. If we’re being honest, it’s been fun reading all of the wild theories about the film. What boggles our mind is the rumored runtime of No Way Home. According to UK cinema chain Cineworld, No Way Home will be 150 minutes long or a little over 2 hours. This would make No Way Home the second-longest MCU film to ever release, supplanting Avengers: Infinity War (149 minutes) and ranking just behind Avengers: Endgame (181 minutes). We understand how easy it is to believe this rumor on account that No Way Home will explore a lot in a single film. The only problem is that the film isn’t finished yet. It’s still being edited. This means that the runtime is a mere placeholder. If anything, we think that two hours and thirty minutes isn’t enough. Don’t forget that No Way Home has an expansive story that easily dwarfs the last two Spider-Man films. It also won’t have the benefit of an entire decade’s worth of world-building just like Avengers: Infinity War did. Also, because the film will feature the appearances of Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus and Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn, as well as rumored cameos of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, No Way Home might need more than 150 minutes to tie everything together. So, yeah, No Way Home isn’t 150 minutes long. If anything, the film could go on a lot longer if it doesn’t want to leave a lot of things unexplained. Either way, the best thing that all of us could do is sit back, relax, and cheer on Jon Watts as he continues his work on No Way Home ahead of the film’s December premiere date. In the meantime, you’ll want to keep yourself busy by watching Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on September 3.
