Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated “Oppenheimer” will be his longest film yet, the director confirmed, so dedicated moviegoers aiming to watch both it and Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” on July 21, when both films will be released, are in for a very long day.
“It’s slightly longer than the longest we’ve done,” Nolan told Total Film Magazine in an issue that will be released next week. “It’s kissing three hours.”
Prior to “Oppenheimer,” Nolan’s longest in a lengthy list of long films was “Interstellar” at two hours, 49 minutes. “The Dark Knight Rises” clocked in at two hours, 44 minutes, with its predecessor in the trilogy coming in at two hours, 32 minutes.
Three-hour runtimes are becoming increasingly common for blockbusters in recent years, but it hasn’t deterred audiences from coming to the cinema. Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Endgame” and James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” both are roughly three hours in runtime, and sit at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, on the all-time box office list. Martin Scorsese’s upcoming “Killers of the Flower Moon” runs three hours, 26 minutes.
“Oppenheimer” stars Cillian Murphy as the famed physicist largely responsible for the creation of the nuclear bomb that was developed during World War II. The film’s cast is stacked with A-listers including Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Gary Oldman, Casey Affleck, Benny Safdie, Kenneth Branagh and more. Perhaps Nolan set the film at three hours just to give every star their due screen time.
