Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny Record-Setting Runtime Revealed
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny clocks in at a runtime of two hours and 22 minutes, the longest in the franchise.
According to producer Kathleen Kennedy, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny will clock in at around two hours and 22 minutes. The longtime Lucasfilm exec shared the news with Collider at the Star Wars Celebration in London. Kennedy also had a brief conversation with their Editor-in-Chief, Steve Weintraub, about the decision-making process regarding running times for films, which the outlet shared on Twitter.
In the Indiana Jones chat, Kennedy mentioned that previous films in the series have been under two hours and 15 minutes, which isn’t far off the two hours and 22 “or 23” minutes she indicated for the fifth installment in the classic adventure series. But her estimate was a little off. Sure, the films have not exceeded two hours and 15 minutes, but the closest they’ve come is 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which came in at two hours and seven minutes.
We could have sworn Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was longer than that, but the fourth Indy picture is only the second longest in the series at two hours and two minutes (via IMDb), making it and Last Crusade the only ones so far to crack two hours. But that was part of Kennedy’s point. Some movies need more time to tell an engaging story that keeps audiences invested, while other films—like Indiana Jones 4—feel longer.
So, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny will be by far the longest entry in the saga of everyone’s favorite adventuring archaeologist. And given that this will almost surely be the swan song for Harrison Ford in the role, we don’t mind one bit. As long as the story warrants it and the film is well-paced and enjoyable, who wouldn’t be up for more Indy screen time?
As Kennedy points out, streaming services also seem to have broadened audiences’ appetites for longer-format stories, so why not longer Indiana Jones stories as well? There might not be a series in the works right now for the whip-wielding supernatural treasure hunter, and this film could conceivably end the decades-old franchise, so it makes sense to go out with a bit longer bang. With so many well-received and successful feature films exceeding the two- and three-hour marks these days, it seems we’re happier to stay longer than we have been in a while.
Whether it’s Indiana Jones, Batman, or the Na’vi, as long as fans are enjoying what they’re watching, they’re happy to keep doing so. After all, we sat in theatres for an excess of three hours for each of the Lord of the Rings films, then went and bought extended cuts of those films that were four hours long or more on DVD. But then again, we just couldn’t finish The Rings of Power, proving that story matters more than running time every time.
After a widely panned fourth installment, Indiana Jones deserves a better film, especially if he is to go out on it. Since the now 80-year-old Harrison Ford insists no one else should play the role, this might be it. That is unless Ford wants to show up one more time in a few years wearing an eye patch.
