How long is Aquaman?

Aquaman arrives in theaters on Dec. 21, and like other superhero movies it clocks in at just over two hours to pack in as much action as possible.

Aquaman looks to become the next big hit for Warner Bros after Wonder Woman’s success in 2017. The movie opens on Dec. 21 and stars Jason Momoa and Amber Heard in roles that originated in the Justice League movie. In order to establish Arthur Curry’s undersea world in the Aquaman standalone film, director James Wan needed a slightly longer run time to get the story right.

Clocking in at 143 minutes, just short of two and a half hours, Aquaman is two minutes longer than Wonder Woman (141 minutes) and over a half hour longer than Justice League (110 minutes). It’s shorter than Avengers: Infinity War, which came in at 156 minutes.

There should be a rule these days as superhero movies continue their box office dominance that it’s okay to run over three hours if the extra time allows for a better story. In the case of Aquaman, there’s a lot of world building that needs to happen to bring the world of Atlantis to life for fans who aren’t as familiar with Arthur Curry as they are with Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent.

Aquaman has been certified fresh by Rotten Tomatoes with a 70 percent rating as of this writing. The positive buzz, coupled with the movie’s dominating showing in China, will no doubt give the movie a boost when it opens domestically. It’s currently the highest earning DC Entertainment movie in China after only a few days, which says a lot. There’s no question that DC and Warner Bros will be watching Aquaman’s performance carefully as it makes plans for sequels and future installments in the DC Extended Universe.

You can catch Aquaman in theaters on Dec. 21, 2018, with midnight showings beginning Thursday evening.