‘Thor: Ragnarok’: Taika Waititi Addresses Extended Runtime

While promoting Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok earlier this summer, director Taika Waititi stated that the film would be the shortest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Waititi claimed that his cut was about 100 minutes long, making it by far the shortest MCU picture.

However, the film has since extended to 130 minutes as its final runtime – making it longer than both Kenneth Branagh’s Thor and Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World. 

Recently, Waititi spoke with Collider about why the film added an extra 30 minutes from its previously-reported runtime:

“After [San Diego] Comic-Con, we decided to put lots of the jokes back in. We put the laughs back into it.

When I said it was going to be 100 minutes, we were at about 100 minutes. We had just done our reshoots, so we knew it was going to come up from there, but there was a world where I thought it was going to sit around 100, no more than two hours.”

Even with is extended runtime, Thor: Ragnarok has become one of the MCU’s most critically-acclaimed entries. As of the publishing of this article, the film now stands at an impressive 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 100 “fresh” reviews and only 4 “rotten” reviews.

Thor: Ragnarok stars Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Mark Ruffalo, Tessa Thompson, Idris Elba, Karl Urban and Jeff Goldblum. You can read the synopsis for the film below:

“Imprisoned on the other side of the universe, the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth) finds himself in a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), his former ally and fellow Avenger. Thor’s quest for survival leads him in a race against time to prevent the all-powerful Hela (Cate Blanchett) from destroying his home world and the Asgardian civilization.”

Thor: Ragnarok hits theaters on Nov. 3.

Source: Collider