Where does Solo: A Star Wars Story's runtime rank alongside the rest of the Saga? Before Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm, Star Wars movies rarely went too far over two hours. Since, however, they just got longer and longer.
Of course, Solo is a different sort of Star Wars film, the second in the anthology spinoff series following 2016's Rogue One. Set in-between the prequel and original trilogy, the film is an origin story for Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich), and features other beloved characters like Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) and Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo). The film, which reportedly cost more than The Force Awakens, had a turbulent production that required extensive reshoots; original directing team Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired and replaced by veteran director Ron Howard, who reshot 70 to 80% of the film. How has that impacted the runtime?
Related: Solo: A Star Wars Story's Director Problems - What Really Happened
Solo: A Star Wars Story runs two hours and fifteen minutes long, or 135 minutes total. The previous Star Wars film, The Last Jedi, was the longest Star Wars film to date, whereas Solo's length is the middle of the pack, both for Star Wars films and the highest grossing films of 2018 so far.
How Does Solo's Runtime Compare to the Other Biggest Movies of 2018 So Far?
Solo's runtime places it in the middle of the top five highest grossing films of 2018 so far — in fact, because its runtime is exactly the same as Black Panther, it lands exactly in the middle. Given Solo's massive ticket presales, it seems likely that it will knock Ready Player One from the fifth spot on the list. The top five highest grossing films of 2018 so far are listed here with Solo, from shortest to longest run time:
- A Quiet Place (91 minutes)
- Deadpool 2 (120 minutes)
- Black Panther (135 minutes)
- Solo: A Star Wars Story (135 minutes)
- Ready Player One (139 minutes)
- Avengers: Infinity War (160 minutes)
How Does Solo's Runtime Compare to Other Star Wars Films?
Relative to the other Star Wars films, Solo: A Star Wars Story also finds itself in the middle. While Solo is technically the longer of the anthology films, it's actually only two minutes longer than Rogue One. Here are all of the live action, feature-length Star Wars films, listed from shortest to longest:
- A New Hope (121 minutes)
- The Empire Strikes Back (124 minutes)
- Return of the Jedi (131 minutes)
- The Phantom Menace (133 minutes)
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (133 minutes)
- Solo: A Star Wars Story (135 minutes)
- The Force Awakens (135 minutes)
- Revenge of the Sith (140 minutes)
- Attack of the Clones (142 minutes)
- The Last Jedi (152 minutes)
The shortest Star Wars film (which is not listed above) is the Star Wars Holiday Special, an infamous made-for-TV movie, which runs exactly two hours. After that, the three films of the original trilogy have the shortest run times. Solo: A Star Wars Story is only two minutes longer than both The Phantom Menace and Rogue One, which each clock in at 133 minutes. Solo's runtime is also exactly the same as The Force Awakens. This means that the median run time for a Star Wars film is 134 minutes, only one minute shorter than Solo.
