Your bladder isn’t lying.
asserted
bladder → lie → ?
Movies are getting longer.
asserted
Movies → get → ?
All kinds of films, from big-budget spectacles to art house dramas, are stretching their run times.
asserted
kinds → stretch → times
It’s an old saying that a short movie can feel long and a long movie can feel short.
asserted
movie → ’ → ?
But data, not just bathroom runs, shows that run time inflation is real at the movies.
asserted
inflation → show → movies
After analysing 36,431 movies released theatrically from 1980 to 2025, researcher Stephen Follows found that the average length of a wide-release movie has grown from 106 to 114 minutes.
asserted
length → analyse → minutes
For most who frequent the movie theatre, this isn’t surprising.
asserted
this → frequent → theatre
It’s become a regular feature of the prerelease anticipation of a movie: How long is it?
asserted
it → become → movie
When the official run time of The Odyssey was released (173 minutes), for some it was as if Christopher Nolan had laid down a challenge as intimidating as the Cyclops.
asserted
Nolan → release → Cyclops
But there’s little evidence that long run times are dissuading moviegoers.
asserted
times → ’ → moviegoers
The Odyssey is the second-highest grossing movie of the year, with $US1.8 billion ($2.6 billion) in ticket sales, and the front-runner for best picture at the Oscars.
asserted
Odyssey → gross → Oscars
Still, the shift has changed the whole ecosystem around movies.
asserted
shift → change → movies
Ahead of last year’s Venice Film Festival, festival boss Alberto Barbera noted that movies running 2¼ hours or 2½ hours had become “the new international standard”.
asserted
movies → note → hours
This, Barbera said, could be a programming annoyance as well as a knock on an otherwise good film.
uncertain
Barbera → say → film
The festival selection committee, he said, often saw films that would have benefited from being 10 to 20 minutes shorter.
asserted
that → say → films
This year, three films viewed as top Oscar contenders – The Odyssey, La Bola Negra (159 minutes) and You Can See Everything (174 minutes) – all easily run more than 2½ hours.
asserted
You → view → hours
It’s far from just the awards movies, though.
asserted
It → ’ → movies
Any way you cut it, that’s a lot of reaping.
asserted
that → cut → reaping
The advent of streaming has led the movies to seek larger screens and longer run times.
asserted
advent → lead → screens
When the flat-screen enticements at home are so great, the movies strive to be bona fide events to get people to come out.
asserted
people → strive → home
Bigger is better, or so the thinking goes.
asserted
thinking → go → ?
No one knows this better than Joe and Anthony Russo, stewards of the Avengers movies including the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday.
asserted
one → know → Avengers
“The movie going experience is evolving,” Joe Russo said in a recent interview.
asserted
Russo → go → interview
“Eventised cinema seems to be the draw to get people out of their homes.
asserted
cinema → seem → homes
That can be premium storytelling, premium movie going experience, and length can certainly contribute to the feeling of an experience.
asserted
length → contribute → experience
In a lot of ways, it’s the feeling of getting your money’s worth.
asserted
it → ’ → worth
Doomsday doesn’t yet have an announced run time, though that hasn’t stopped a sizable cottage industry of coverage committed to pinning down its length.
asserted
that → have → length
The Russos expect it to be closer to 2½ hours, slimmed down from the three-hour-long Endgame and relatively slender given that it contains a sizable portion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
asserted
it → expect → Universe
“It doesn’t mean that you can’t pack a punch in a shorter run time,” Russo said.
asserted
Russo → mean → time
“It’s whatever the story requires.
asserted
story → ’ → whatever
It’s about squeezing the story into a diamond, and if that diamond ends up 3½ hours, sure.
asserted
diamond → ’ → diamond
If it ends up 2½ hours, sure.
asserted
it → end → ?
For some filmmakers, slowing down is important
The Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi makes movies that are almost the diametric opposite of a superhero film, yet he has arrived at similar run times.
asserted
he → slow → times
Hamaguchi’s films are resolutely human-scaled; they move with the rhythm of life.
asserted
they → scale → life
His movies are patient powerhouses that reject conventional movie plotting.
asserted
that → reject → plotting
“Storytelling as an action, you’re sort of forcing certain things to happen to make an interesting film,” Hamaguchi said.
asserted
Hamaguchi → storytelle → film
“Oftentimes, when I watch other films, they say this is how it is and continue to push the plot forward.
asserted
it → watch → plot
I find that to be uncomfortable.”
asserted
that → find → ?
Hamaguchi was speaking in an interview shortly after the Cannes Film Festival premiere of his latest film, All of a Sudden.
asserted
Hamaguchi → speak → Sudden
Contrary to its title, it runs 197 minutes.
asserted
it → run → minutes
…and 24 more, not listed.
The Aporia
