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Doctor Strange 2 Was Originally Longer Than the Final Version


After months of waiting and speculating, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now out in theaters and fans are excited to see the titular hero's latest adventure in the MCU where he travels along the multiverse to save it from a huge threat that may or may not have been caused by the Scarlet Witch.

During a recent interview with Collider, director Sam Raimi was asked about the film's 126-minute minute in which he revealed that the first cut was originally longer until they shrinked it down to its final number.

"Well, the first cut was...I actually don't remember the length of it. It was probably like two hours and 40 minutes, and it slowly came down even though we did the reshoots," Raimi said. "We took out material even though the reshoots went in. So, it slowly got down to about two hours and five minutes is the total."

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When the runtime was announced weeks before the release, there were a lot of fans who were surprised about the number since a lot of MCU films recently have a runtime of more than 2 hours and 10 minutes with some even going as far as 2 hours and 30 minutes. With the film tackling multiverse and expected to have a lot of cameos, fans were expecting a longer runtime.

However, as someone who has seen the film, I personally thought that the runtime was good enough especially with its fast-paced story where they were able to provide a lot of information in every scene without having long expositions that could have ruined the pace and storytelling. Raimi decided to go on a runtime that he thought suits well for the film and is better for the story.

Of course, it's up to you to decide if the runtime fits well for the film once you finally get to see it. At the end of the day, they're not required to have a longer runtime and it should be based on what they think is right for the story whether it's two hours more or less.

Also Read: Doctor Strange 2 Hype Overshadows Moon Knight as Fans Forget About Finale

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now showing in theaters. You can check the details about where to watch it online here.

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