The new Martin Scorsese movie is three hours and twenty-six minutes long. It’s one that he meticulously shotlisted and edited with Thelma Schoonmaker to find the right pacing and storytelling. He even released a companion list of all the films that inspired him.
Still, despite being the greatest living filmmaker and an auteur by which many others are measured, a few movie theaters have taken matters into their own hands and have been adding an intermission to his latest film.
Variety is reporting that UCI Cinemas, which has around 8- theaters in Europe, had added a “six-minute interval towards the middle of the film” so patrons could take a break. they mercifully did not add that to their IMAX showings. The Vue, which is a U.K.-based theater chain, as well as The Movies Haarlemmerdijkm, which is a theater in Amsterdam, also showed the movie with a break. And so did The Lyric in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Paramount, who produced the movie with Apple, found out what the Lyric was doing and forced them to stop.
Editor of the film, Thelma Schoonmaker, said in an interview with The Standard, “I understand that somebody’s running it with an intermission, which is not right. That’s a violation, so I have to find out about it.”
What’s your take on all this? Should theaters be allowed to add intermissions if they think it will drive sales, or should movies be shown the way directors intended?
Personally, I thought the movie was paced exceptionally and didn’t notice the run time.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Author: Jason Hellerman
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
