Thor Love and Thunder: Taika Waititi Reportedly Received a Mandate to Keep MCU Movie Under 2 Hours

Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi reportedly received a mandate from Marvel Studios to “bring this movie in under two hours”, according to podcaster Joanna Robinson. Funnily enough, we wondered if this was the case in our Thor: Love and Thunder review — and lo and behold, that actually turned out to be the case. It is being said that Waititi didn't really have a “blank check” on the fourth Thor movie, even though he enjoyed more freedom this time around than he did while working on its predecessor Thor: Ragnarok. The director, either way, had to “cut a ton of stuff”, resulting in a final runtime of 119 minutes.

There's no word, however, on who issued the mandate nor is anything known about the reason behind it. Robinson said on a recent episode of the House of R podcast from The Ringer: "Taika having a blank check on this is absolutely not the case. He got more leeway than he got with Ragnarok, but there was a mandate to bring this movie in under two hours. This comes in under two hours and they cut a ton of stuff out of this movie."

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Her comments come days after it was reported that several cameos were cut from Thor: Love and Thunder. Jeff Goldblum and Peter Dinklage were to return as the Grandmaster and Eitri, respectively. Moreover, Lena Headey, was to make her Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) debut with the fourth Thor film, but her scenes didn't see the light of the day.

Waititi acknowledged these cuts, saying that they were needed in the “natural course of editing”. He also said that he is not a fan of the “Director's Cut”, which suggests that it is highly unlikely that we will get to see the unedited version.

Natalie Portman, who plays astrophysicist Jane Foster/ Mighty Thor, too addressed these edits last week, noting “whole sequences, planets, and characters were cut”.

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Thor: Love and Thunder revolves around Chris Hemsworth's Thor and Portman's Mighty Thor, as they team up to take on Christian Bale's menacing villain Gorr the God Butcher.

Besides Hemsworth, Portman, and Bale, the Thor: Love and Thunder cast includes the likes of Tessa Thompson as the king of New Asgard Valkyrie, Russell Crowe as the king of the Olympians Zeus, Jaimie Alexander as the God of Thunder's childhood friend Sif, and Waititi as the Kronan gladiator Korg.

The Guardians of the Galaxy appear in the fourth Thor film, with Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Sean Gunn, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper reprising their respective MCU roles as Peter Quill/ Star-Lord, Mantis, Drax, Nebula, Kraglin, Groot, and Rocket.

Thor: Love and Thunder is playing in cinemas worldwide.