Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is one of the most anticipated movies of the year, and recent news of the film’s shorter runtime has generated some discourse. Despite not being one of Nolan’s longest movies, the movie’s runtime is the perfect choice for what promises to be the biggest movie of the summer.
What is The Odyssey’s runtime?
Speaking to AP News in a recent interview, Nolan confirmed that The Odyssey won’t be close to as long as his last film, Oppenheimer, was. While the Oscar-winning biopic was an exact three hours long, The Odyssey will instead be shorter. Nolan didn’t reveal exactly how long the movie will be, but did note that the movie “is shorter.” He added that the film remains “an epic film, as the subject matter demands.”
What this means exactly is unknown. The film could be significantly shorter than Oppenheimer and only be two and a half hours, or could end up being a nearly three hour long movie but remain just under the 180 minute mark that Oppenheimer was. However, one thing that is clear is that the shorter runtime for the movie is all but certainly the right choice.
Why is The Odyssey’s runtime the right choice?
While many might want an incredibly long epic based on the legendary Odyssey text, it’s important to note that the movie being shorter will be beneficial for a number of reasons. On the more practical side, the shorter the movie is, the more it can play in theaters, meaning from a box office standpoint, the film could generate much more money. A movie by Christopher Nolan is guaranteed to be a box office draw no matter what, but getting to play in as many time slots as possible is no doubt something both Nolan and Universal Pictures have taken into consideration.
From an artistic standpoint, it’s important to simply trust the filmmaker on the matter. Nolan has proven to be adept at telling stories at a number of different runtimes, be it something like Memento or Dunkirk that come in under two hours, to a sprawling historical or sci-fi epic like Oppenheimer or Interstellar, respectively, both of which were about three hours in total. Nolan has shown the important skill to make a movie feel just the right length, regardless of its actual runtime.
Judging by his comments, Nolan clearly understands how important telling the story of The Odyssey is, and even if the film does not reach the heights of Oppenheimer, it’ll no doubt still serve the story well and be more than entertaining enough to warrant whatever runtime it is.
