You’re sitting in the theater, or maybe on your couch, and the title card for "Part 2" finally flashes on the screen. You glance at the seeker bar or your watch. You’ve been watching for a while. If you felt like you’ve been on a marathon, you aren't wrong. The everything everywhere all at once length clocks in at exactly 139 minutes. That’s 2 hours and 19 minutes of hot dog fingers, tax audits, and existential dread.
It’s a lot. Honestly, for a movie that feels like a caffeinated fever dream, 139 minutes is a bold choice. Most comedies or high-concept indies try to get you in and out in 90 to 100 minutes. But the Daniels (Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) didn't do that. They went for a runtime that rivals a mid-sized Marvel movie or a serious historical drama.
The Breakdown of That 139-Minute Runtime
When people talk about the everything everywhere all at once length, they’re usually talking about the pacing. The movie is split into three distinct chapters, and they aren't even close to being equal in size.
The first part, titled "Everything," is the heavyweight. It’s about 70 minutes long. This is where the world-building happens, and it’s arguably where the movie feels the longest because you’re constantly trying to keep up with the rules of verse-jumping. By the time Evelyn is fighting off security guards with a fanny pack, you’ve already sat through a full hour of setup. Then you hit "Everywhere," which is about 45-50 minutes. This is the chaotic heart of the film. Finally, "All at Once" is a short, 15-minute emotional cooldown.
It’s an unusual structure. Most films follow a traditional three-act arc where the middle is the longest, but the Daniels front-loaded the information. It makes the first hour feel dense. Like, really dense. If you aren't paying attention for even two minutes, you’re lost.
Why 139 Minutes Felt Like Five Hours (and Five Minutes)
Runtime is a weird thing in cinema. A movie can be three hours long and feel like a breeze—think The Wolf of Wall Street—or it can be 80 minutes and feel like a hostage situation. The everything everywhere all at once length works because of the editing. Paul Rogers, the editor who won an Oscar for this flick, had to manage over 2,800 cuts. For context, the average movie has about 1,250.
Because the cuts are so fast, your brain is processing information at a higher rate. This creates "perceived time." When you’re watching the rock universe scene, time feels like it stops. When you’re in the middle of a kung-fu sequence in a broom closet, time flies. The length is a tool. The directors wanted you to feel overwhelmed. They wanted you to feel the same sensory overload that Evelyn feels.
Comparing the Length to Other A24 Heavyweights
A24 isn't exactly known for "short" movies anymore, but Everything Everywhere All at Once is definitely on the longer side for their roster.
- Hereditary: 127 minutes.
- Midsommar: 148 minutes (Theatrical).
- The Whale: 117 minutes.
- Civil War: 109 minutes.
At 139 minutes, it’s a commitment. But it’s not The Irishman. It fits into that sweet spot where it feels like an "event" movie without requiring you to pack a lunch. However, back in the early editing stages, the movie was much longer. Reports from the production suggest the first assembly cut was over three hours. They had to trim a lot of the "universe hopping" sequences just to make it digestible for a general audience.
The Impact of the Length on Streaming and Theaters
When the movie first hit theaters, the everything everywhere all at once length was a bit of a gamble. In 2022, theaters were still recovering, and long runtimes usually mean fewer screenings per day. Fewer screenings mean less money. But the word-of-mouth was so strong that the length didn't matter.
On streaming, the length is actually an advantage. People like to pause. They like to go back and see what was on the screen during the "all-universe" flashes. If the movie were 90 minutes, it wouldn't have the same rewatch value. You need that extra hour of "stuff" to make the final emotional payoff land. If we didn't spend 139 minutes with Evelyn, we wouldn't care as much when she finally hugs Joy in the parking lot.
Is There a Director's Cut?
People keep asking for a longer version. Given how much was left on the cutting room floor—including entire universes and characters that didn't make the final cut—a three-hour version definitely exists in a hard drive somewhere. But the Daniels have been pretty vocal about the 139-minute version being the "right" version.
Adding more length wouldn't necessarily make it better. It would just make it more exhausting. The everything everywhere all at once length is calibrated. It pushes you right to the edge of "okay, this is too much" and then pulls you back with a quiet scene about rocks or laundry.
How to Handle the Runtime if You're a First-Time Viewer
If you haven't seen it yet and you’re worried about the 139 minutes, here is the reality: don't check your phone. The movie is designed to be an assault on the senses. The moment you look away to check a text, you lose the rhythm.
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- Hydrate before. You don't want to miss the "Everywhere" segment because of a bathroom break.
- Embrace the chaos. The first 40 minutes are confusing on purpose.
- Watch the background. A lot of the movie's "length" is filled with visual gags that you’ll miss if you’re only looking at the actors' faces.
The everything everywhere all at once length isn't a flaw; it's a feature. It’s a maximalist movie. You can't tell a story about the infinite nature of the multiverse in 85 minutes. It needs the room to breathe, to scream, and to occasionally be completely silent.
Ultimately, the 2-hour-and-19-minute runtime is what allowed the film to transition from a wacky sci-fi comedy into a profound meditation on generational trauma. It earns every minute of that time. By the time the credits roll, you don't feel like you've wasted two hours. You feel like you've lived several lifetimes.
If you're planning a movie night, block out three hours. You'll need the extra 40 minutes afterward just to sit in silence and process what you just saw. Check the "Special Features" on the Blu-ray if you're curious about the deleted scenes that would have pushed the length past the three-hour mark—they include some wild stuff involving Evelyn’s father that honestly would have slowed the whole thing down. Stick to the theatrical 139 minutes. It’s the version that won seven Oscars for a reason.