James Cameron’s Avatar movies have cemented themselves as cinematic events, milestone movies that push the limits of visual effects and immersive worldbuilding. However, they’ve also started to push the limits of audiences’ bladders. 2009’s Avatar kicked things off by clocking in at 2 hours and 42 minutes, the same runtime as The Godfather Part III, The English Patient, and Stalker.
Avatar: The Way of Water, bolstered by Avatar’s popularity, then swelled to a butt-numbing 3 hours and 12 minutes, about the same length as Gandhi, The Right Stuff, and, coincidentally, James Cameron’s Titanic. Thankfully, Avatar: Fire and Ash is going to land in the middle, although it could have been a little shorter if not for an anticipated scene that Cameron insisted on including.
