Matthew McConaughey's performance in Interstellar blew audiences away in 2014, but despite that being 12 years ago, the flick actually turns just over 90 minutes old thanks to one key detail.

Watching Interstellar is like stepping into another reality, but Nolan’s blockbuster was more than a film: it was a scientific masterpiece.

Any fans of the movie will understand that when the project was first released, there was a whole obsession over how time works in space.

But not everyone understood how it worked, which is why if I tell you that the film is only one hour and 42 minutes old, you’ll be left scratching your head.

This is all down to what the film depicted on-screen

For example, after it was released, fans of the flick focused heavily on the case of Miller’s Planet’s mysterious ticking - which was later attributed to time passing at an accelerated rate (one hour to Earth’s seven).

Matthew McConaughey’s performance in Interstellar blew audiences away in 2014. Credit: Frazer Harrison / Getty

This calculation is the reason why (Spoiler) McConaughey’s Cooper character ended up staying fresh and young in space while his daughter withered away like a prune back home.

Because when he spent ‘hours’ on Miller’s planet, she was aging seven years to his one hour on Earth - known as 'time dilation'.

So, this strange detail is the reason why the film was only released an hour and a half ago, instead of 12 years.

Okay, so this time measurement isn’t literal, but it is instead linked to the film’s black hole Gargantua, which Miller’s Planet was orbiting for a major part of the plot.

In real-life, the closer you are to a black hole, the faster time progresses around you as you become trapped by its gravitational pull.

To show this, Nolan features the time on Miller’s Planet being noted in the background, just by using sound.

It could be heard in the flick via ticking, like a clock, which told viewers that a day had passed, but that many Earth years were also occurring light years away.

By that logic, if we use this same calculation to convert the 12 years on Earth since the film was released, it would be equal to around 90 minutes there.

That's 11.82 years as of October 8, divided by seven Miller's Planet years, which leaves you with 1.70 hours, which works out to around one hour and 42 minutes.

So, the film was released 1.42 hours ago...which is 112 minutes.

It’s a lot. I know. But I didn’t come up with the science, so you’ll have to take that up with Nolan.

Time dilation is a major part of the story. Credit: Tetra Images / Getty

Anyway, fans of the flick have spent their time calculating and commemorating the time slippage ever since its release, with one user summing it up nicely: “In Interstellar, on the water planet, the ticking sound in the soundtrack occurs every 1.25 seconds, symbolizing a day passing on Earth.”

Others had even marked the film's eight-year anniversary by posting to X: "It's been 8 years since Interstellar was released, it’s like an hour and 8 mins on that planet with the big waves."

However, not everyone can get to grips with the calculations, as another wrote: "Watching Interstellar for the fourth time, hopefully i understand wtf is going on."

Featured image credit: Frazer Harrison / Getty