Avengers 4 Directors Joe And Anthony Russo Try To Put An End To The Two-Hour Movie

Hollywood standards might have held films at around a 2-hour time limit, but it looks like Avengers 4 directors Joe and Anthony Russo believe that we've arrived at a new age of cinema.

The Marvel directors just recently spoke with fans during a public appearance at Business Insider's Ignition (via Deadline), and during the event, the Russos touched on other topics including the changes that the filmmakers are trying to bring to the film industry – one that includes a change in the way Hollywood perceives the length of a film.

Joe and Anthony have never really been fond of the industry's 2-hour film rule. Captain America: Civil War ended at 2 hours and 28 minutes. The first installment in their two-part Avengers movie, Avengers: Infinity War, completed at 2 hours and 40 minutes on the big screen. According to the Russos, the 2 –hour film has come to an end.

"The two-hour film has had a great run over 100 years," Joe said during the interview. "But it's become very difficult to work in. … I'm not sure that the generation that's coming up will see the two-hour film as the dominant form of storytelling." The issue, he said, is the lack of surprise — even young kids can often guess the ending of a movie within its opening five minutes. Studios' dogged allegiance to the feature, Russo joked, is akin to their executives saying, "Hey, we all love sonnets. Let's just write sonnets for 100 years."

The change has become quite apparent to film enthusiasts as well. While the two-hour rule has been the standard, many tentpole films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and from the Star Wars franchise have been running in direct opposition to this rule. Fans want their films longer – at some point blockbuster movies nearly approach the 3-hour mark.

Avengers 4 is expected to do the same. The follow-up to Infinity War is expected to premiere May 3, 2019.

Read: 'Dusted' Characters from Infinity War Will Not be in Any Avengers 4 Marketing