After the releases of Warcraft, Ratchet & Clank, and The Angry Birds Movie earlier this year, 2016 still has one more promising video game adaptation on its way in Assassin’s Creed. The film - based on the popular Ubisoft game series - will feature the reunion between Marion Cotillard, Michael Fassbender, and their Macbeth director Justin Kurzel, in an adaptation that is going to some extreme lengths to recapture the same energy and visceral action of its source material.
For many fans, the film is being seen as not only an interesting up-and-coming action film though, but yet another chance to turn things around for video game adaptations in Hollywood, after being met with a long streak of disappointing outings throughout the years. With just a few more months to go until its late December release as well, the film’s official runtime may have just been revealed.
The news comes thanks to the UK-based Empire Cinemas, who in their listing for the film have Assassin’s Creed clocking in at a fairly clear-cut 140 minutes. If this listing turns out to be true too, this would make Assassin’s Creed the longest video game film of 2016, with Warcraft running 123 minutes, Ratchet & Clank being 94 minutes, and The Angry Birds Movie clocking in shorter at 97 minutes long.
Assassin’s Creed is sitting at a somewhat risky end of year release date, coming less than one week after the theatrical release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story: a film practically guaranteed to dominate the box office for the final few weeks of 2016, going into 2017. Ubisoft doesn’t seem overly concerned about the film’s box office prospects, but with a sequel already planned and a notable star like Michael Fassbender leading the franchise, it’ll be interesting to see just how well the film ends up doing when it hits theaters in a couple months.
Kurzel has given the film a very distinct and unique look, bringing over the same knack for stylistic violence and action that he displayed in Macbeth last year. Following the CGI-heavy Warcraft, it’s evident Assassin’s Creed is taking a much different approach to adapting its source material by comparison. Whether or not it ends up being the knock out of the park that many fans are hoping for, that remains to be seen. In terms of runtime alone though, fans who are already familiar with the franchise will probably agree: considering the worldbuilding and storytelling requirements that come with Assassin’s Creed, a runtime bordering on 2.5 hours seems justifiable.
Assassin’s Creed will be released in U.S. theaters on December 21st, 2016.
Source: Empire Cinemas
