Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be long.
How long, you ask? Try 150 minutes, as Rian Johnson has officially confirmed that his sequel will clock in around the two-and-a-half-hour marker.
News of The Last Jedi‘s bum-numbing runtime began circulating back in September, when a series of theater chains posted pertinent details ahead of time. Those listings were swiftly removed at the request of Lucasfilm, but the ‘damage’ was done: Star Wars: The Last Jedi was already being referred to as the longest Star Wars movie in history – longer than even The Force Awakens, which resurrected a dormant film giant with its 135-minute runtime.
John Hoey of Star Wars News Net has relayed a confirmation directly from the horse’s mouth – Rian Johnson, in this case, who was speaking at a press conference in France. Continue after the jump for the official word on The Last Jedi‘s super-sized runtime.
For the sake of perspective, the only other Star Wars movie to come close to Episode VIII is Attack of the Clones (142 minutes), which was a bloated, CG-laden mess in its own right. Indeed, Clones is a timely reminder of one of Hollywood’s golden rules: length ≠ quality. And one need only look to the newly-launched Justice League petition for evidence of that.
Via Twitter:
Rian Johnson has just confirmed this rumor (although it was pretty concrete at the time) that the running time for #TheLastJedi will be 150 minutes, officially making it the longest Star Wars movie ever. https://t.co/q1VpOItzsw
— John Hoey (@JohnnyHoey) November 17, 2017
All 150 minutes of Star Wars: The Last Jedi will light up theater screens the world over on December 15th. Elsewhere, today also brought forth a tantalizing new TV spot in which Rey pledged her lightsaber to Luke’s cause. “Kylo failed you. I won’t.”