The lengthy running time of Killers Of The Flower Moon has brought with it tiny outbreaks of unauthorised intervals in the film.
Running to a backside-testing 206 minutes, Martin Scorsese’s latest film – the acclaimed Killers Of The Flower Moon – has nonetheless been doing brisk business in worldwide cinemas. The movie may have been funded by a company intending it for streaming, but in fairness to Apple – which has paid the $200m bill for the film – it’s also allowed Killers Of The Flower Moon a wide cinema release, thanks to a partnership with Paramount Pictures.
It’s certainly getting a better deal in that respect than Scorsese’s last picture, The Irishman.
However, the length of Killers Of The Flower Moon has ignited debate about whether certain films should be presented with an interval. At the very least, to allow those of us no longer in our 20s and less able to, well, hold it in, to avail ourselves of the facilities.
Yet part of the agreement for cinema chains taking the film is that they show Killers Of The Flower Moon complete and entirely intact, with no break at all. Yet wouldn’t you know it: a few cinema chains around the world appear to have gone rogue.
Read more: Killers Of The Flower Moon review | Scorsese directs a stunning, unsparing crime drama
As per a report at Variety, Vue Cinemas in the UK was one chain one that offered an interval with screenings, although we’ve been unable to verify if this actually happened. UCI Cinemas, a name no longer on UK streets but still active around Europe and South America, had also decided to spring a six minute gap around the film’s midpoint.
This has not gone down well. So much so, in fact, that Apple and Paramount have got in touch with the cinemas that have decided to allow the answering of a call of nature, and, bluntly, told them to cross their legs for a bit. (Even editor Thelma Schoonmaker has waded in, describing the addition of an interval a “violation,” adding, “I have to find out about it.”)
They’re being explicitly told that they’re breaking the contract they agreed to, and the filmmakers too are said to be aware of the transgression. It is being stamped out, and quickly.
There are no reports of cinemas clamping down on people bringing comfortable cushions, though. We just thought you’d want to know.
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