Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens Running Time Revealed

Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens is now only two months away from release, and final details about what to expect are beginning to appear. One piece of news that has emerged is the film's running time.

Following the Nerd has reported that The Force Awakens will run 136 minutes, and in the UK carry a 12A certificate. While this has not been confirmed by Disney or Lucasfilm, the site did state that they were "100% certain" that the information was correct.

This running time will put the picture in line with previous movies in the franchise. While Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back both clocked in at just over two hours, Return of the Jedi and all three prequels topped the 130-minute mark. 134 minutes will place The Force Awakens at a minute longer than The Phantom Menace, but shorter than either Attack of the Clones or Revenge of the Sith.

The UK certificate is the same as the one given to all of Marvel's recent superhero films, and is the equivalent to a PG-13. While the US certificate is yet to be announced, it is expected to be in line with this.

Earlier this week, director JJ Abrams confirmed during a panel discussion for Vanity Fair that while he did have final cut on the film, it was still very much Disney's property. "When you do a Disney project, there's a clause in there that you kind of go, 'Well, if I were a lawyer I could probably drive a truck through it'," he said, via Indiewire.

The implication here was that Disney still had to right to take the movie from the director if they weren't happy with results. Nevertheless, in the interview Abrams was full of praise for the studio. "They're not trying to 'Disney-fy' it," he said. "They're not doing anything other than, I think, an incredibly smart thing, which is letting Kathleen Kennedy--who is a remarkable person and producer--run and lead Lucasfilm to a place where I think it wants to go. They let us make the movie we wanted to make."

Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens will be released on December 16 in France and December 17 in the UK, before rolling out across the US on December 18. It stars John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Max von Sydow, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill.