So THAT's Why Movies Are So Long Now

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about why movies are so darn dark now, as well as why TV shows and movies look so different from one another.

But here’s another question I’ve got for Hollywood’s movie magicians – how come films are so looooong now (looking at you, Oppenheimer, Killers Of The Flower Moon, Dune... I could go on)? 

Don’t get me wrong, I like settling in for a bountiful visual bonanza ― especially in the cinema.

But with the average running times of the 10 most popular titles in 2022 sitting at around two and a half hours (per the Economist), it’s no wonder neither I nor my bladder are happy about the apparent change. 

So what’s going on?

There’s no one, neat answer for why our movies are getting longer. But The Economist suggests streamers might be partly responsible. 

“The hope is that a spectacular, drawn-out ‘event’ movie will tempt audiences away from the small screen and into cinemas,” especially among big franchises, they say.

Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian agrees, sharing with CNN that there aren’t as many time constraints placed on movies when it comes to the commercial side of the industry.

As multiplex cinemas grow ever more ordinary, the expert says, theatres feel less pressure to run multiple movies on one screen to maximise ticket sales ― they can instead show one blockbuster on multiple screens, giving run times more wiggle room.

On top of that, Vox says that way back in the early days of Hollywood, movies were shot on physical film ― which gave most nine-reel movies a material end point of about 90 minutes (the idea length, IMO). 

These constraints have obviously since been removed.

Is that all? 

Nope! Prestige (and possibly a little bit of ego) plays into it too. 

Dana Polan, a cinema studies professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, told Variety: “Most long films could be promoted as special and prestigious... There was an assumption that length equalled quality.”

He added that movies that have landed a big budget might want to flex that with extended, and even (gasp) gratuitous action and CGI scenes too ― “It’s almost to say, we’ve spent the money — let’s flaunt it.”

Then, comes reputation and industry clout. “Who would dare tell the likes of Mr Nolan to trim his masterpieces?” The Economist asked in their article about the topic.

Still, the numbers don’t lie; people are seated, literally and figuratively, for these mega-movies.

“In 2023, the average length of the top 10 highest-grossing movies in the United States and Canada amounted to 143 minutes (or two hours and 23 minutes). This figure is almost 30 minutes higher than the average recorded in 2020,” Statista shared. 

“Avatar: The Way Of Water was the longest movie in 2023′s top 10, with three hours and 12 minutes. The longest film in 1990 was Ghost with two hours and seven minutes,” the number-crunching site added. 

Well, if people love it, I guess I’ll just have to suck it up ― but please, theatres, listen to Dergarabedian and bring back the intermission.