For whatever reason — the idea that long movies are important movies and vice versa, an increasing demand for movies that justify the hype and give us our money’s worth by putting more footage on the screen, etc. — movies that revive or reboot a franchise tend to be a little on the long side.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) was 132 minutes when it first came out in theatres, then grew to 143 minutes for TV (and, if I recall correctly, for VHS) before shrinking back down to 136 minutes on DVD. But one thing all three versions have in common is that they are longer than all of the Star Trek films that followed, which range from the 103 minutes of Insurrection (1998) to the 118 minutes of The Voyage Home (1986).
Batman Begins (2005) was 140 minutes, and The Dark Knight was 152 minutes. Both films were longer than the Batman films directed by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher, all of which ran between 122 and 126 minutes.
Casino Royale (2006) was 144 minutes, and thus longer than any of the James Bond films produced before or since — although On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), i.e. the film in which Bond got married (and thus a very “important” entry in the franchise), came very close to matching it, at 142 minutes.
Why do I mention all this? Because J.J. Abrams, director of the upcoming Star Trek movie — which seems to be part sequel, part prequel, and part reboot — recently told MTV Movies Blog that his film will not conform to this trend:
“It will be a two-hour movie,” Abrams said of the film’s running time. “I’m sick of these two hours and forty-five minute movies. Seriously, it’s like I don’t have enough time to stay two hours and forty-five minutes. I’m exhausted just saying that twice. I can’t stand it.”
Well, that’s okay. The Star Trek franchise has done the long-ish reboot thing already, sort of. No need to do it again.
For what it’s worth, Abram also hints that there might be a teaser or trailer for the new film some time in November. Can’t wait.
UPDATE: Pictures from the new Star Trek movie have started to pop up on certain specially-chosen websites. See UGO.com (the source of the photo above), Ain’t It Cool News, IGN.com, JoBlo.com, the MTV Movies Blog and, of course, TrekMovie.com for more. The latter site also gives us an advance look at the Star Trek-themed cover of next week’s Entertainment Weekly.
OCT 16 UPDATE: And here is the Entertainment Weekly article itself, which includes at least one more brand-new picture.
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