Going to the movies is an enjoyable pastime. However, sometimes watching a two-hour-plus film can feel more like a feat of endurance than anything else, especially if you’ve been munching on popcorn and sipping a drink for the duration of the movie.
Wouldn’t it be nice if films still had intermissions the way that plays and musicals did, with a built-in bathroom break so your bladder wouldn’t feel like it’s about to explode by the time the credits roll? Luckily for moviegoers, there are several movie apps that notify the user when the least ‘important’ parts of the film are, so you’re able to make a quick escape should you need to.
These days, except for horror films, it seems like the majority of decent movies are over the two-hour mark. This is especially true for action films that have long and exciting combat sequences; the latestJohn Wickis nearlythree hours long, for instance, not to mention basically every film in the Marvel or DC universe. However, it sometimes feels like movies overstay their welcome and drag on for longer than they should. Are movies actually getting longer, and is that a good or bad thing? Does it matter or mean anything?
Long Films Have Always Been Around
First off, it’s obvious but important to note that long-running films have always been in existence. Consider the 1939 romantic war drama,Gone with the Wind,which clocks in just under four hours, 3h 58m to be exact (with intermissions and titles). Abel Gance’s silent masterpiece,Napoleon, has been screened at various lengths, but most people agree that the five and a half hour cut is authoritative.
While long, these films have extensive stories to tell, so there would be no way that these movies could be successful with shorter run times. However, long-running films back in the day were less common than they are today.
Remember the Good Ol' VHS?
During the first television boom of the 1940s to the 1960s, nearly half of all US homes eventually had black and white TV sets. This forced Hollywood to get creative to bring people back to the theaters. Therefore, Hollywood started making longer, sweeping epics to lure people out of their homes to witness the action on the big screen. Massive movies likeLawrence of Arabia, Spartacus, Doctor Zhivago,andBen-Hurdrew people to movie theaters for their grand scope.
However, in the 1970s came the invention that would change the way people watched TV — the VHS tape. Many people can remember going to the video store and renting a VHS tape for the evening. These cassette tapes soon dominated the market, and it meant that Hollywood had to shorten their films so that they could fit on the standard size of a VHS videotape. Anything longer than two and a half hours or so needed a clunky two-tape box, and God forbid a film was long enough for a three-tap box.
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From the 1970s to the mid-1990s, making shorter films became a factor and a priority for Hollywood. However, all that changed with the invention of the DVD in 1995 and then the Blu-ray in 2005. Especially in the digital age of downloads and streamings, films can be as long as they want without the constraint of fitting on a VHS tape.
Along Came the Superhero Franchises
It should be noted that not every movie genre is getting longer, but some are, and these happen to be the most popular. These days, it seems like there is a new superhero movie coming out almost every month, and superhero films tend to be on the long side. That’s because they are action-packed flicks filled with epic fight sequences and otherimpressive CGI special effects. Hollywood can’t tell an epic superhero film by today’s standards in under two hours.
It just doesn’t seem to be done, mostly because they’re connected to so many other films. These aren’t stand-along films. The 30th entry in the MCU, for instance, has to cover a lot of ground and make a lot of connections, so anything under two hours will seem even more rushed and frantic than they usually are.
Back in the 20th century, there was a greater variety of popular films. Just Google thetop films of the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, and while you will see a fair share of films over the two-hour mark, you’ll also see many recognizable titles that are closer to the 90-minute timestamp. For example, from the 1970s, titles likeStar Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope(1979) (1h 45m),Monty Python and the Holy Grail(1975) (1h 29m), andHalloween(1978) (1h 31m) come to mind.
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From the 1980s, there are many popular cult classic films likeThe Princess Bride(1987) (1h 38m),Raiders of the Lost Ark(1981) (1h 45m), andFootloose(1984) (1h 47m). Finally, favorites from the 1990s includeThe Lion King(1994) (1h 28m),Babe(1995) (1h 31m), andEdward Scissorhands(1990) (1h 45m). These films range in genres from fantasy, science fiction, romance, comedy, horror, and musicals. Today, though, the big films are action franchises, and they have a lot of story to cover.
What Does the Future Look Like?
Despite some people complaining that today’s movies are too long, the mass population of people are willing to go to the theater to sit through a two-hour-plus film, at least for now. Therefore, it seems very unlikely that Hollywood will alter the length of their films anytime soon, at least for their epic action-packed adventure flicks. Whileaudience fatigue may setin from these lengthy runtimes (which may be expressed in the lower box office returns of superhero films in 2022), for now, it doesn’t seem to be changing anything.
Furthermore, when inflation is impacting everything (including the price of movie tickets) and you get less for more money, perhaps Hollywood is trying to distract us from our everyday troubles by giving us more for our money in the form of longer films. Luckily for moviegoers, streaming sites have become increasingly more popular. So, if the thought of sitting through a two-hour-plus film without any breaks terrifies you, you may easily wait until that film hits one of the dozens of streaming sites and view it from the comfort of your own home. Take as many breaks as you need.
