45 Minutes was cut out of The Avengers

Avengers-mania continues to roll on into the film’s second weekend. Reports are coming in that the film is doing as well as analysts predicted and is right on track for surpassing the $1 Billion dollar mark. The Avengers achieved another milestone, as it is the first film to bring in over $100 million in its second weekend. The film has surpassed the previous record set by none other than James Cameron’s Avatar($78 million.) One can only wonder if the film will even surpass Avatar as the Highest Grossing Film of All-Time.

Recently, Slash Film sat down with director Joss Whedon and during the interview, the director revealed that they had removed 45 minutes of footage from the film. Originally, there was a rumor floating around that there was a 3-hour cut of the film and in the interview the director confirmed it.

…we took out 45 minutes about as painlessly as you can. There was a moment where I sort of went “Wait a minute, do I know what I’m doing? Am I even in this movie anymore?” But ultimately it’s not about me, it’s about the movie and the more you sort of remove yourself from it and in this case literally, the more you will end up servicing it. And a lot of it is stuff that I’m proud of, but I understand why it didn’t belong in there and why we by necessity ended up with the structure we did.

45 minutes? That’s nearly an hour more of The Avengers that fans would have been able to see. Joss Whedon confirms that fans will be able to view the extra 45 minutes of the film when The Avengers is released on Blu-ray and DVD. If Avengers fans are anything like Lord of the Rings fans, they will more than likely call for a theatrical release of an Extended Cut. Hopefully the Blu-ray will also have the option to watch the film in its original extended form.

The Avengers is still out in theaters. Also check out the video below where Kevin Feige is interviewed by Bloomberg TV and talks about the next five Marvel films.



Source: Slash Film