Pillow cushions & "Superman Returns"

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Less amusing is a note from an exhibitor friend telling me that Superman Returns has a "confirmed duration of 158 minutes."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 7, 2006 at 8:34 AM

comment #1

lesterg says ...

Wow, Brokeback Mountain was only 134 minutes.

Although Superman's length is somewhat intimidating - hopefully it will be fulfilling.

Posted by lesterg at June 7, 2006 8:44 AM

comment #2

Mathew says ...

At that length I think we'll be getting a lot of back story. It won't bother me as I find the Superman mythos interesting but again it's a story that everyone already knows... The question will be if Routh and Singer can make it engaging enough to sit through until the action kicks in. Will Brando's CGI reincarnation be a scene stealer or just hokey?

Posted by Mathew at June 7, 2006 9:18 AM

comment #3

Daniel Zelter says ...

That's 15 minutes longer than the original. But it's a little long for a "sequel".

Posted by Daniel Zelter at June 7, 2006 9:18 AM

comment #4

Rob says ...

134 minutes? For a story everybody already knows? Gawd ...

Posted by Rob at June 7, 2006 9:33 AM

comment #5

Rob says ...

Obviously that should be 158 mins!

Posted by Rob at June 7, 2006 9:34 AM

comment #6

Steve C. says ...

Theme today I guess is "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" indeed (see comments for the betting on box office piece):

After the anemic plot and character development of X-MEN 3: THE LAST GASP at 104mins, I heartily welcome something longer if it serves the story. I seem to recall mutterings about the original's running time (back when only "serious" films got the over 120min run time) that disappeared once the film was out.

With Singer, you know it won't be fat like Peter Jackson's bloated 3rd LOTR's film. Superman is the arch-type of summer blockbusters, so why not give him an epic run time if the story supports it?

Besides, this isn't an official annoucement from Warners and is in most probablity just an exhibitor who is privy to what the current running time is as they edit it down. Kinda like that 4 and a half hour director's cut of HEAT that has never been released.

Anyone want to wager that the final time will be in the 2:20 range and not 2:38?

Posted by Steve C. at June 7, 2006 12:11 PM

comment #7

amer says ...

after POSEIDON'S 90 minutes and X3's 100 minutes im glad SUPERMAN has epic length.

Posted by amer at June 7, 2006 3:41 PM

comment #8

Bob says ...

Oooooh, a whole HALF HOUR longer than most big action pics, how TRAGIC.

Y'know what my problem is when I hear that a pretty damn good looking Superhero movie is 2 1/2 hours long? That's it's not THREE hours long :)

Posted by Bob at June 7, 2006 11:15 PM

comment #9

Tony says ...

Hey - I'm a manager at a movie theater and we had to program advance ticket sales for Superman Returns and in order to do that we had to schedule a weeks worth of showtimes. We were told that the run time is 157 min. and they are adding an additional 13 min. for trailers. So look for the thing to run nearly 3 hrs. when everything is factored in.

Posted by Tony at June 8, 2006 12:16 AM

comment #10

Anonymous says ...

Wow. I guess I won't see it then.

Posted by Anonymous at June 8, 2006 6:54 AM

comment #11

Steve C. says ...

"Wow. I guess I won't see it then."

Yeah, sorry if anything longer than a David Spade movie taxes your attention span too much. Hate for you to be away from your EverQuest game too long.

Good fucking grief... refusing to see a film because it clocks in at 2 hours, 37 minutes. Guess he's never seen THE GODFATHER (175 mins), GODFATHER Pt II (200 mins) or HEAT (171 mins).

(not saying RETURNS will be in their company, but the OP seems only to care about running time)

Posted by Steve C. at June 8, 2006 9:05 AM

comment #12

Daniel Zelter says ...

If the Godfather had 30 minutes of infomercials before every screening like nowadays, no one would have seen it on the big screen.

Posted by Daniel Zelter at June 8, 2006 9:37 AM

comment #13

Rich says ...

I thought one of the reasons this was an unofficial "sequel" was that they could skip all the origin stuff. Clearly, some of that shows up in the trailers. But I thought it was going to be brief. Now, it looks like it may be exhaustive.

The Smallville teenage years section was the weakest part of Donner's version (after baby Supes lifts the car). So if they do a good gloss on it, I suppose it would be okay.

But, nearly three hours. Wow. I guess the boxoffice lessons of King Kong were not well-learned.

Posted by Rich at June 8, 2006 2:10 PM

comment #14

Steve C. says ...

"I guess the boxoffice lessons of King Kong were not well-learned."

Not having Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson write the screenplay no matter how much their last turgid, overlong, overhyped film made? Seems Warners got the message on that...

Posted by Steve C. at June 8, 2006 3:22 PM

comment #15