If you're planning on walking into BLADE RUNNER 2049 with an enormous beverage in your hands, you might want to reconsider, because there's a very good chance that you'll have to make a dash for the restrooms before the film is over. According to Variety, the much-anticipated sequel will clock in at two hours and 32 minutes, plus another 11 minutes for credits. That makes BLADE RUNNER 2049 about 35 minutes longer than Ridley Scott's original, which fell just shy of two hours.
Hopefully that epic run-time is an indicator of a suitably epic film, and not an overly long bore which will be a pain to sit through. I'm inclined to lean towards the former, as I can't help but to believe that BLADE RUNNER 2049 is going to blow us away, especially with talents such as Ryan Gosling, Denis Villeneuve, Harrison Ford, Roger Deakins, and Ridley Scott himself involved. Sure, crafting a sequel to a beloved film over thirty years later would normally be enough to make one roll their eyes, but if anyone is able to pull it off, it's this group. Please be good. Please be good. Please be good.
Getting to spend two and a half hours in the world of BLADE RUNNER will be quite the treat, but we'll actually get to spend even more than that thanks to several shorts films which will bridge the gap between the original and the sequel. Denis Villeneuve recruited several artists who he respects to create three short stories, the first of which, 2036: NEXUS DAWN, you can watch above. The Luke Scott (MORGON) directed short stars Jared Leto and Benedict Wong and finds Leto's character, Niander Wallace, introducing a new line of obedient replicants called the Nexus 9.
BLADE RUNNER 2049 will hit theaters on October 5, 2017.