The Truman Show (1998) runs 103 minutes, or 1 hour and 43 minutes, as listed in its official film record. That figure covers the theatrical cut Paramount released in 1998 and still appears on every standard listing for the film today. Peter Weir directed the film, and Jim Carrey stars as Truman Burbank, a man unknowingly living inside a television set. Box Office Mojo's credits page, keyed to the film's IMDb identifier, lists the same 1 hr 43 min runtime, confirming there's no discrepancy between the two most commonly cited sources for the figure.
Table of Contents
- How Long Is The Truman Show?
- What Plays Over the End Credits?
- Is There a Director's Cut or Extended Version?
- What's on the DVD and Blu-ray Editions?
- What Does the 2023 4K Ultra HD Edition Add?
- Frequently Asked Questions
How Long Is The Truman Show?
The Truman Show has a confirmed theatrical running time of 103 minutes. This number comes from the film's official listing and is independently matched by Box Office Mojo's credits page, which draws its data from the same IMDb identifier (tt0120382) used to track the film's commercial and technical details. Because both references agree, 103 minutes is the figure to use whether you're checking showtimes, comparing runtimes across Peter Weir's filmography, or verifying a listing on a streaming platform or disc sleeve.
There is no extended cut or alternate theatrical version that changes this number. In the UK, the British Board of Film Classification's public release record shows separate classification dates for the film's 1998 cinema release and its subsequent video release, consistent with the PG certificate it carries there. That record doesn't list a different runtime, which further supports 103 minutes as the standard figure across markets.
What Plays Over the End Credits?
The end credits are scored with "Mishima/Opening," a piece composer Philip Glass originally wrote for Paul Schrader's 1985 film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, according to soundtrack documentation on Wikipedia. Rather than commissioning a new end-title theme, the filmmakers reused this existing Glass composition to close the picture. This choice reflects how the film's score was built throughout.
Burkhard Dallwitz composed the diegetic score — the music that plays within Truman's manufactured world, audible to the character himself — while Philip Glass's pre-existing pieces from Mishima and Powaqqatsi were licensed for key emotional beats, including the ending, per the same soundtrack source. Dallwitz and Glass jointly won the Golden Globe for Best Original Score for their combined work on the film. If you're listening for a single theme to define the movie, "Mishima/Opening" is it: the cue that carries Truman out of the frame and into the credits is music that existed years before the film itself.
Is There a Director's Cut or Extended Version?
No. The Truman Show has one theatrical runtime — 103 minutes — and no publicly documented extended or director's cut exists that changes that length.
Every major home-video release traces back to this same cut, including the DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K editions described below. If you see a listing with a different runtime, check whether it includes trailers, menu navigation, or rounding before assuming it's a different version of the film. The underlying feature has stayed consistent since its 1998 release.
What's on the DVD and Blu-ray Editions?
Paramount's mid-2000s "Special Edition" DVD added a new anamorphic widescreen transfer along with a two-part making-of documentary, a visual-effects featurette called "Faux Finishing," deleted scenes, a photo gallery, and trailers and TV spots, according to a contemporaneous DVDTalk review. This release established the extras package that later editions would carry forward largely unchanged.
Those same bonus features reappear on a standard Blu-ray disc that Paramount has continued to pair with newer releases. A review of the 2023 4K Ultra HD edition confirms this companion Blu-ray is unchanged from Paramount's earlier Blu-ray release — it does not carry the new 4K transfer or remastered audio, so its picture and sound quality match the older disc, not the Ultra HD upgrade. If you're buying for picture quality specifically, the distinction matters: the Blu-ray in any Truman Show set is there for the extras and backward compatibility, not for an upgraded transfer.
What Does the 2023 4K Ultra HD Edition Add?
Paramount Home Entertainment released a 25th-anniversary 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and Digital edition on July 4, 2023 in the US (July 3 in the UK), sourced from a new scan of the original camera negative, according to a release report from Screen Connections. The set includes Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio and was approved by director Peter Weir.
Despite the upgraded transfer and audio, Screen Connections' review of the disc notes the 4K disc itself carries no new bonus features. All the legacy extras — the making-of documentary, "Faux Finishing," deleted scenes, photo gallery, and trailers — are instead found on the included standard Blu-ray disc, not on the 4K disc. That split means anyone wanting both the best picture and the bonus content needs the full combo pack, not the 4K disc alone: the improved visual and audio quality live only on the Ultra HD disc, while every making-of extra is tied to the Blu-ray that comes packaged alongside it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the 4K Ultra HD disc worth buying over the Blu-ray?
Only the 4K disc carries the new camera-negative scan with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos; the Blu-ray in the same set is unchanged from Paramount's earlier release, per Screen Connections.
Who composed the music that plays during the end credits?
Philip Glass, reusing "Mishima/Opening" from his 1985 score for Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, as documented on Wikipedia.