Last week unconfirmed rumours circulated that James Cameron had locked down the running time of Avatar and it was going to be just over three hours . However it turns out that this isn’t actually accurate, as the limitations of IMAX means movies in that format can’t run much longer than two and a half hours (and as Cameron is making the film in IMAX, rather than on normal film and then converting it to run on the giant screens, there’s no leeway).
THR reports that the complete running time of Avatar is 150 minutes, but may rise to 156 minutes once all the credits are added in, but that this is the absolute maximum for the film. This is good news for cinema owners, as it’ll mean they can fit in two evening screenings rather than one.
Fox have also revealed that it will be truly massive release. The film will be going out in the US on 3,500 screens in 3D, plus 1,500 more in 2D. They’ve also signed deals that for the first few days in many cinemas, the film will literally play around the clock, starting with midnight screenings and then going through the early hours of the morning.
They’ve also got an extensive lock-in with IMAX, as the company hasn’t scheduled another new IMAX release until early March. So whereas normally a film playing in the format can expect to run in those theatres for three or four weeks until it’s replaced by a new movie, Avatar will run on IMAX screens for about 10 weeks (as The Dark Knight did last year), while normal cinemas have had to promise to keep the movie on their screens for at least eight weeks.
It’s all a pretty big gamble, seeing as no one has seen the film and it’s not based on a previously known franchise. However it seems Titanic director James Cameron still holds a lot of sway in Hollywood, and it’s difficult to imagine any other director’s new film having such power over the cinemas showing it.