Back in 2020, online rumors immediately circulated that Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch would be a four-hour-long film. Of course, the rumors turned out to be false — with the movie eventually boasting a cool hour and 45-minute runtime. And while most of Anderson’s movies adhere to a similar runtime, it turns out his latest cinematic outing is going to be significantly shorter in comparison.
While chatting with IndieWire, Anderson briefly discussed the anticipation surrounding Asteroid City before disclosing the apparent runtime for an upcoming movie that he is directing for Netflix. The 54-year-old filmmaker explained that the Netflix movie, which is based on a series of stories penned by author Roald Dahl and will be titled The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, is set to only be 37 minutes long — which is shockingly shorter than an episode of The Idol. Anderson said:
“Suddenly, in essence, there was nowhere else you could do it since they own it. But beyond it, because it’s a 37-minute movie, it was the perfect place to do it because it’s not really a movie.”
Anderson’s reasoning makes perfect sense, of course, since Netflix is home to a variety of miniseries, docuseries, and television shows that are noticeably short in runtimes. In doing so, Anderson opens up the door to film buffs who might be easily distracted and less inclined to sit through a feature-length movie. After all, Ari Aster’s Beau is Afraid absolutely perplexed moviegoers once they learned the film was nearly three hours long.
Until the project hits Netflix, folks can watch Asteroid City for a limited release in theaters on June 16, 2023, followed by a wide release on June 23, 2023.