Hey Everybody! Its me, xStarLordx! You know who. The one guy who wrote a strange first article that some people said that they wouldn't touch with a 12-foot pole. Yeah, that's me. Anyways, I had an interesting conversation with a fellow user, dethpillow. Captain America: The Winter Soldier's run time has possibly been found. It may run in at 2 hours and 15 minutes which is ,If I am correct, 10 minutes shy of The Avengers. There were people who were excited and others who felt it was unfair that Thor: The Dark World received a shorter run time, which is under 2 hours. So I posted a comment saying I hoped Guardians would get over 2 hours, and somewhat close to the length of a Lord of the Rings film.
(I'm not saying that just because Guardians of the Galaxy is my favorite comic book series, especially the series from 2008.)
I backed up my statement by saying the members of the team would need some time to explain back stories and etc. All that stuff. The reason I said that is that ,from what we know, most of the teammates origins will have to do with a villain making it reasonable for them to have time to focus on their origins. The only character I can't see getting time for that, or just a small mention is Groot, just because his might not be as relevant as the others AND it hasn't been mentioned by Gunn or any other cast or crew.
Not long after I posted my comments, dethpillow and I started talking more about run times. While we didn't necessarily talk about what makes a good run time or what makes one bad, I formed my own beliefs, if you will, on them.
What makes a good run time: A good run time should be long enough to tell the main story while keeping the audiences attention and ,if necessary, add a side story. (As long as it doesn't completely pull the audiences focus from the main story.)Keep a steady pace. Keeping a steady pace will make sure the viewers will keep focus and won't get bored. If a movie moves too fast it will confuse the audience. But, if the movie moves too slow it will bore the audience and they are probably going to want to leave. Plus, no one wants to go back to see a sequel if the first movie was slow/fast.
If the movie has multiple origin stories, (i.e. Fantastic Four or X-Men:First Class), make time for each character, while keeping a good flow with the story.
If the movie will be split into two parts it may be hard to keep that steady pace, or it might be a chance to add more to the story. Regardless, the pace at the end of the first part should agree with the beginning of the next. If a movie ends slow and sad, the next one should begin slow and sad. If the end leaves off on a high note and somewhat fast, the next should begin on a high note and somewhat fast.
Conclusion: The audience should never feel bored or confused, because that probably means the pacing was off..... or they're watching Inception. And if the run time is too small, the story will seem like its bouncing all over the place and moving too fast. If it is too long, it will seem boring unless you find a way to keep the audiences attention involved.