Marvel Studios' next release on Disney+ is also one of its most unique entries ever, with Werewolf By Night: A Marvel Studios Special Presentation set to premiere on Disney+ in early October. This will be the MCU's first holiday special before the Guardians of the Galaxy get the same treatment later this year, although Werewolf by Night is still shrouded in plenty of mystery.
Marvel brought the first trailer for this Halloween special to the 2022 D23 Fan Expo, with studio president Kevin Feige teasing a "darker" and "scarier" adventure than fans have seen before. Filled with practical effects and featuring classic characters like Elsa Bloodstone and Man-Thing, this special has fans intrigued for what should be the MCU's spookiest project to date.
One of the biggest questions surrounding this unique entry is its runtime, particularly after Guardians director James Gunn teased that his special would be about 40 minutes long. Now, a new rumor may have revealed that Werewolf by Night will actually be longer than that when it makes its long-awaited Disney+ debut.
Werewolf by Night Runtime Revealed?
Twitter user @bigscreenleaks shared the runtime for Marvel Studios' next Disney+ release, Werewolf By Night: A Marvel Studios Special Presentation. The special is reportedly just under an hour in length at 52 minutes and 37 seconds (including credits), which is longer than originally expected.
After James Gunn revealed that The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special would be about 40 minutes long, most fans and insiders expected a similar runtime for Werewolf by Night.
A previous rumor from The Weekly Planet's James Clement had indicated that the special was only 30 minutes long instead of an hour, which was originally planned.
“The Halloween special is now only 30 minutes instead of the original one hour. They didn’t finish filming the original script…”
Marvel Brings Long Halloween Entry on Disney+
Runtimes have consistently been a hot topic within the MCU, especially after Phase 4 began pushing the franchise towards serialized storytelling on Disney+. And after seven unique Disney+ series brought widely varied results on that front, the questions turn to the MCU's first one-off specials as Werewolf by Night comes to the forefront.
Comparatively, this runtime would place the Halloween Special in line with most of the MCU's other Disney+ episode runtimes outside of WandaVision, What If...? and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. While those three entries' runtimes are due to story choices or being in the animated spectrum, seeing the Halloween Special come in at over 50 minutes is a shocking but exciting development, especially with rumors pointing to it being much shorter a while back.
This should allow for a more in-depth adventure as Werewolf by Night introduces multiple new heroes and villains into the MCU, all while paying tribute to classic 1940s horror movies and bringing the franchise's first entry fully embracing Halloween.
Werewolf By Night: A Marvel Studios Special Presentation will debut on Disney+ on Friday, October 7.
