'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Will Be The Longest 'Star Wars' Movie

Prepare your bladders, Star Wars fans. Director Rian Johnson has confirmed the rumors that Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be the longest Star Wars movie yet. So maybe hold off on that extra-large drink when you settle into the theater next month.

Speaking at a press conference promoting the film in France, Johnson revealed that The Last Jedi will run 150 minutes. IGN France has the news, but Twitter user sleemo provided the helpful translation, as seen in the embed below.

While modern blockbusters have gotten longer and longer in recent years, the Star Wars movies initially hovered around the two-hour mark. The original 1977 film runs 121 minutes, The Empire Strikes Back runs 124 minutes, and Return of the Jedi went slightly longer at 132 minutes. The prequel trilogy saw the series' runtimes increase: The Phantom Menace runs 133 minutes, Attack of the Clones runs 142 minutes, and Revenge of the Sith runs 140 minutes. The slightly longer trend kept going with Star Wars: The Force Awakens (135 minutes) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (133 minutes).

So The Last Jedi will top Attack of the Clones by a whopping eight minutes, making it the longest Star Wars movie to date. That makes sense, as it has to service storylines for Rey, Luke Skywalker, Poe Dameron, Leia Organa, Finn, Rose Tico, Kylo Ren, and other characters who would make this sentence impossibly long.

Interestingly, The Last Jedi will be the longest Star Wars movie while also having the fewest of the series' trademark wipe transitions. Johnson says that his movie has only 12 wipe transitions, left in the dust by The Phantom Menace, which has 55.

As is often the case, the stories about the Star Wars: The Last Jedi runtime began when Fandango and websites for various movie theater chains began listing 150 minutes in September. And while this could have been a placeholder number or a mistake, it seems they were accurate. One thing is true in 2017: the biggest hurdle for keeping a movie's secrets safe is toy companies, followed closely by ticketing websites.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens on December 15, 2017. Arrive dehydrated. It's the the only way to be safe. (Don't actually arrive at the movie theater dehydrated. That is terrible advice.)