By now, you’ve probably heard about Avatar 2‘s mammoth runtime. The upcoming science fiction movie has been confirmed to be 3 hours and 12 minutes. For context, that’s longer than the MCU movie Avengers: Endgame, and only 8 minutes shorter than the infamously long Lord of the Rings movie Return of the King.
Of course, the long runtime isn’t an issue in itself – especially is the story of Avatar 2 is as far-spanning and epic as the first. But, it does pose a challenge for both cinemas, and cinema-goers. For example, what happens when, 2 and half hour in, you get the call from the way of water and you need to pee?
Thankfully, Avatar 2’s director James Cameron has addressed those concerns and given his suggestion for what audiences should do. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Cameron was asked when he’d recommend audiences take a bathroom break. He said “Any time they want. They can see the scene they missed when they come see it again.”
While it’s not the most helpful answer, it’s clear that Cameron is banking on the people choosing to see the new action movie multiple times as part of the commercial strategy for the mega-blockbuster. That was a large part of the reason why the first Avatar movie, back in 2009, was such a huge financial success.
However, to ensure that we don’t miss anything when we watch Avatar 2, we’re just going to make sure that we don’t buy any lemonade while we’re in the cinema. For more on Avatar, find out how many Avatar movies there will be, or, find our why Avatar 2 took so long to make.