The runtime forDoctor Sleephas been revealed and it’s even longer than its predecessor,The Shining. Warner Bros. has been doing very well with Stephen King adaptations as of late, thanks toITandIT Chapter Two, so they decided to roll the dice and make a sequel to one of the most heralded horror movies of all time. And they didn’t skimp either, as the movie is going to be just over two and a half hours of horror goodness.
According to the official listing on the websites for several major theater chains,Doctor Sleepis going to run 2 hours and 32 minutes. That puts it just over the 2 hours and 26 minutes of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 classicThe Shining. It’s right in the same ballpark. Does that tell us much? Not really, but it means director Mike Flanagan didn’t have a shortage of footage or material to work with. But a runtime alone, in this case, doesn’t seem to be any sort of indicator of what to expect, beyond possibly having to consider a pee break.
Doctor Sleepis based onStephen King’s 2013 novelof the same name. The book itself isn’t terribly well regarded, but Mike Flanagan has proved that he knows how to adapt potentially rich source material for the screen before, as the director of Netflix’sThe Haunting of Hill House. Flanagan also previously brought King’sGerald’s Gameto the screen for Netflix, which proved to be a critically-heralded adaptation of a book that had previously been deemed unadaptable. Point being, if anyone can turn this into a worthy sequel toThe Shining, Flanagan seems highly qualified to do so.
The rest of the cast includes Carl Lumbly, Zahn McClarnon, Emily Alyn Lind, Bruce Greenwood, Jocelin Donahue, Alex Essoe and Cliff Curtis.Stephen Kingis as big as he’s ever been, if not much bigger, in the entertainment landscape right now. Even so, this feels like a risky move. Though, the upside, if they pull it off, is potentially huge. We’ll have to see if Mike Flanagan has a little more magic in the tank. Though, it is worth noting Warner Bros. did move the release date up by two months at one point, which is a good sign.Doctor Sleephits theaters on November 8. This news comes to us viaAMC.
