'Avengers 4' Directors Declare The End Of The Two-Hour Film

Hollywood has long held to the standard that a movie should be around 2 hours, but according to Avengers 4 directors the Russo Brothers that convention is past its prime.

The Russo Brothers have never really been adherent to the 2-hour rule, asAvengers: Infinity War came in at 2 hours and 40 minutes and their previous Marvel film Captain America: Civil War hit the 2 hour and 28-minute mark. In a new interview, Joe Russo broke down while just continuing to adhere to the two-hour rule doesn't really make any sense.

"The two-hour film has had a great run over 100 years," Joe Russo told Deadline. "But it's become very difficult to work in. … I'm not sure that the generation that's coming up will see the two-hour film as the dominant form of storytelling." The issue, he said, is the lack of surprise — even young kids can often guess the ending of a movie within its opening five minutes. Studios' dogged allegiance to the feature, Russo joked, is akin to their executives saying, "Hey, we all love sonnets. Let's just write sonnets for 100 years."

He's not wrong, especially in regards to Marvel's cinematic universe. The last 10 years of Marvel movies have been building towards Avengers: Infinity War and there was no way you would get all of the connective tissue and still make it a worthwhile experience in just 2 hours. That will also likely be the case with Avengers 4, which not only builds off of Ant-Man and The Wasp and Infinity War but also the upcoming Captain Marvel.

So yeah, two hours just isn't going to cut it.

As time goes on though you will probably see fewer movies acting as if the two-hour rule is doctrine, and more using it as a reliable suggestion. That's not to say you can't make a great movie in just two hours of course, but it isn't the hard and fast rule any longer.

Avengers 4 stars Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Brie Larson (Captain Marvel), Danai Gurira (Okoye), Evangeline Lilly (The Wasp), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Bradley Cooper (Rocket Raccoon).

Captain Marvel launches on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019.

Do you prefer movies to stay within the 2-hour mark? Let us know in the comments!