Avatar” director James Cameron isn’t holding back on how long moviegoers should be holding it in during the three-hour-plus sequel to his sci-fi epic.
Cameron, whose 2009 directorial effort stands as the highest-grossing film of all time, spoke about the length of “Avatar: The Way of Water” in an interview published Wednesday by The Hollywood Reporter.
The legendary filmmaker’s previous “Avatar” movie clocked in at under three hours long. However, its follow-up is set to run for 3 hours and 12 minutes.
The sequel is three minutes shorter than Cameron’s earlier movie “Titanic,” which had held the title of highest-grossing movie prior to “Avatar.”
The director told The Hollywood Reporter that he wanted the $350 million sequel to be “epic” and gave his opinion about when he thinks moviegoers should take a bathroom break during the lengthy film.
“Any time they want. They can see the scene they missed when they come see it again,” he said.
Cameron has repeatedly discussed the length of his new film in recent months, telling Total Film magazine that there’s “more story to service” in the sequel.
The director also spoke out about moviegoers’ potential complaints during an interview with Empire magazine, said he didn’t want critics “whining” about the run time.
“I can almost write this part of the review. ‘The agonisingly long three-hour movie…’ It’s like, give me a fucking break,” Cameron said.
“I’ve watched my kids sit and do five one-hour [TV show] episodes in a row. Here’s the big social paradigm shift that has to happen: it’s okay to get up and go pee.”
