A new report indicated that Madame Web‘s runtime will break a new Sony Pictures record.
Madame Web, starring Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney, is set to hit theaters on February 14, marking the fourth film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSMU).
Anchored by two Venom films starring Tom Hardy (with a third on the way in 2024), the SSMU has presented mixed results from critics and moviegoers.
The new female-led Madame Web film will look to draw fans in during Valentine’s Day with a more MCU-esque runtime.
Madame Web’s Record-Breaking Runtime
Sony
According to the Norwegian ticketing company website FilmWeb, Madame Web is set to have a 1 hour 56 minute runtime.
If true, Madame Web would become the longest Sony Spider-Man Universe movie. Venom previously held the record in this alternate universe:
- Madame Web – 1 hour 56 minutes
- Venom – 1 hour 52 minutes
- Morbius – 1 hour 44 minutes
- Venom: Let There Be Carnage – 1 hour 37 minutes
In general, Sony Pictures does not want its viewers to have to wait long for the story of their Spider-Man-adjacent films to play out. While this is long for a modern-era Sony Marvel movie, it’s still short for a modern-day superhero flick; the average Marvel Studios movie, for example, is roughly 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Fans should expect Kraven the Hunter‘s runtime to also fall under two hours.
Will the Extended Runtime Impact Madame Web?
2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage was viewed as a half-baked film that – in many ways – wasted some of Spider-Man’s most deadly foes.
At least its lightning-quick runtime of 1 hour 37 minutes allowed audience members to go home early or catch a few songs in the Dear Evan Hanson movie released the same weekend.
In this case, the trailer for Madame Web indicates that a lot (possibly too much) is going on. Cassandra Webb’s origin story, the dawn of multiple Spider-Women, and a pigeon-holed backstory tied to the film’s antagonist Ezekiel Sims.
Given all of the webs needing to stick together to create a cohesive superhero flick, the roughly 2-hour runtime shouldn’t come as a surprise.
The cast for Madame Web appears to be its strength with Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, and Adam Scott. Hopefully, this leads to their respective characters being fleshed out in Sony’s longest SSU film to date.
Madame Web hits theaters on February 14.
