US website that tells when it's safe to go, going global

WASHINGTON: Cinema-goers in Asia and Europe could soon be able to watch movies without keeping their legs crossed or shifting from side to side, as the US-based Runpee.com website prepares to expand globally.

Runpee.com has revolutionized cinema-going in the United States by telling Americans when they should go to the toilet during a film and how long they have to relieve themselves without missing any good bits.

Dan Florio, who developed Runpee after sitting through the 2005 version of King Kong – all three hours and seven minutes of it – is ‘rebuilding the site right now so that it will support any character set,’ he told AFP.

‘Once that is in place, hopefully by the beginning of November, I'll be able to get translations for Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Hindi.... My goal is world domination,’ he added.

High on Florio's list of countries to flood with Runpee are China and India.

The Chinese, who can claim to have made the longest movie ever – the 1928 ‘Burning of the Red Lotus Monastery’, which is 27-hours long – have shown a lot of interest in Runpee, and ‘India sells more movie tickets than the United States,’ said Florio.

Interest has also been shown in the service by people in Malaysia, Russia and ‘a Belgian guy who is fluent in English, French and German,’ and wants to set up a European Runpee service,’ said Florio.

Runpee is, in fact, already accessible to global audiences in English on twitter (@RunPee), Facebook, and as an iPhone application.

Android and Blackberry applications are in the works. According to the Runpee website, which has user-generated content, most movies have a first toilet moment about 40 minutes into the action. But a few movies could see viewers regretting that they just drank a large cup of tea or soda.

Take ‘The Time Traveller's Wife’, for instance: the first ‘runpee’ moment in that film happens about an hour and 47 minutes into the action.