RunPee FAQ
The questions we get asked most, answered by the family that sits through every movie. If yours isn't here, Contact Support and a real person will read it.
What is RunPee for?
Our tagline says it all: Because the theater has no pause button.
RunPee tells you the best few minutes in a movie to run to the bathroom. Each Peetime comes with a Cue that tells you when it starts, how long it lasts (usually 2½ to 5 minutes), and a Synopsis of what you missed, so you can slip back into your seat and know exactly what's going on.
We also tell you whether there's Anything Extra during or after the credits. No more sitting through ten minutes of credits for nothing. Better yet, you can stay put confidently while everyone else leaves, knowing there's a scene coming.
And if you're running late, most movies have a First Three Minutes synopsis so you can catch up on the opening.
Is RunPee free? How is it funded?
Yes, it's free. No ads, no paywall, no premium tier. RunPee is 100% supported by donations.
If you'd like to help, you can leave an optional tip in the app, one-time or monthly, and it goes to the Peep who found that movie's Peetimes. You can also sponsor a movie to help fund getting its Peetimes. See Support RunPee for the details, including ways to help that don't cost anything.
When are Peetimes posted for a new movie?
Usually on opening night. We go to the very first showings we can, which are normally the Thursday evening shows, then come home, go through our notes and post the Peetimes, often by about 11 PM Eastern.
When a lot of movies open the same week, we see the ones we expect to be most popular first, and some of the others may wait until Friday. For some big movies we get Peetimes even earlier, from a critic who attends pre-release screenings.
We add about two new movies a week, 100 to 120 a year.
Why aren't there Peetimes before a movie is released?
You have no idea how much this bothers us. We can't get into early screenings for most movies, so we wait for the movie to open like everyone else and see the earliest showing possible.
For some of the biggest blockbusters, a critic who attends pre-release screenings finds the Peetimes for us, so they're ready before opening night. That costs extra, so we save it for the most anticipated movies.
Who finds the Peetimes?
People, not software. Every Peetime is found by someone watching the whole movie in a theater. No algorithm, no AI.
RunPee is a family business, and most Peetimes come from the family: Dan, Jill, Vera, Ginger (RunPee Mom) and Christene (RunPee Sis). Dana Simone, Shani Ogilvie, Rob Williams (RunPee UK) and the rest of the team help out too. Our Thursdays and Fridays pretty much revolve around getting to the earliest showings and then coming home to turn our notes into Peetimes.
Curious what the job is actually like? Read So, You Want to Work for RunPee? and how Peetimes are found.
How do you find Peetimes?
It's harder than you'd imagine. We wait until about 30 minutes into the movie, then start watching for Cues: scenes or lines that stand out. When we see one, we write it down and mark the time, then start taking notes. If three or four minutes go by without anything really funny, any great action, a plot twist or important character development, it's a candidate Peetime.
We look for one roughly every 30 minutes through the middle of the movie, and we stop looking with about 20 to 30 minutes left.
Here's the important part: we assume you're watching a movie you love. It drives us nuts when someone says "you can run and pee anytime during that movie." For every movie you think is a waste of time, somebody else counts it as their favorite ever. We find Peetimes for the person who loves the movie, even when we don't.
Why do some Peetimes fall on important plot points?
Because Peetimes aren't really "the boring parts." They're the stretches of a movie that can be summed up quickly and accurately, so you won't be lost when you come back.
Take Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. One Peetime skips the scene where Harry gets his Advanced Potion-Making book. It matters to the plot, but it's easy to summarize: he gets the book and realizes someone smart, but unknown, owned it before him. Now you know what's going on.
We avoid the funniest lines, the best action and the big dramatic moments. Sometimes a Peetime lands during an action scene, as long as it isn't the best action in the movie. We also try to spread Peetimes across different kinds of scenes and say which is which in the notes below the Cue. If you don't care about long chase scenes, there's probably a Peetime for you.
More on this in Are Peetimes just the boring bits of a movie? and What makes a good Peetime?.
Does a lot of Peetimes mean it's a bad movie?
Not at all. The number of Peetimes mostly depends on how long the movie is. Longer movies get more Peetimes.
Some movies are much harder than others. Inception was brutal: dense plotting and confusing set pieces that take multiple viewings to follow. Most movies aren't that hard, and we've gotten very good at this over the years.
After finding Peetimes for more than 2,300 movies, we've noticed something that surprises people: good movies are often easier. A well-paced story has natural lulls where the audience catches its breath. A poorly paced movie comes at you like a firehose and never lets up.
Good directors make our lives harder, but we love movies, so we appreciate them anyway.
Why isn't my movie listed?
We see every wide release in the US, and as many limited releases as we can. There are far too many limited releases to see them all, and many don't reach a theater near us until they've been out for a few weeks. When they do, we usually add them.
Late in the year, when the Oscar contenders come out, we make an extra effort to catch those. It's still a guessing game, since nobody knows for sure what will be in the running until it's released.
If the movie you want isn't there, suggest it (see below).
How do I suggest a movie?
Use Contact Support in the app (menu → App Settings → Contact Support), the form on our contact page, or email [email protected]. We read every suggestion.
Do I need an account?
No. Peetimes, the timer, Anything Extra and the Peeple's Poll all work without signing in.
Signing in is optional. It saves your movie history and poll votes across devices, and you need it to heart movies or get the newsletter. You sign in with your email and a 6-digit code, with no password to remember. See Your RunPee Account.
Why does a movie have a warning on one of its Peetimes?
That's an Alert, and it has nothing to do with the bathroom. It marks scenes of animal cruelty, torture or sexual violence so people who'd rather avoid them can step out. Read more in Alert Peetimes.
How do I report a wrong Peetime or a missing credits scene?
Tap Comments or Corrections? in the app, or use our contact page. Studios sometimes change endings after release, so we're always glad to hear about it.