OPINION
ffllWM
MOVIES ARE BECOMING LONGER
STORY BY ZACH WHITLEY
OPINION EDITOR
Are longer movies always better?
Have movies gotten too long?
(especially with the longest being three hours and
Not always. “ Batman v. Superman: Dawn of
If-yoú have seen any moyie in the past 12 months,
you might have noticed the trend of creating longer Justice,” “ The Hateful Eight” and “ It: Chapter Two” seven minutes long and the shortest being two hours
movies, specifically ones that have a watch time of are examples of that. Despite the two hour and thirty and 44 minutes,) due to the fact it’s only 95,356 words.
minute runtime, the lowest grossed $155 million At this point, it can seem like directors are dragging
nearly three hours.
“ Avengers: Endgame,” “ It: Chapter Two” and (“ The Hateful Eight,” ) the median d't $453 million out the movies to make more money.
With the recent onset of Disney remakes, even
“ Once Upon A Time in Hollywood” all run more than ' (“ It: Chapter Two” ) and the highest at $873 million
v Disney hasbeen moving to make their movies longer
two hours and thirty minutes, with some reaching (“ Batman v . Superman: Dawn of Justice.)
Inversely, these movies have Metacritic scores that With “ Aladdin,” they increased the runtime by 41%
past the three-hour mark.
If could very well be that 2019 isän exception due to work in the exact opposite direction, with, “ The compared to the original 1992 release, and with “ The
Hateful Eight” earning a Metacritic score o f 68,;“ It:, Lion King,” there was an increase of runtime by 33%
the overwhelming success of “ Avengers: Endgame,
making studios less hesitant to approve a longer Chapter Two” a 58, and “ Batman y. Superman: Dawn compared to the 1994’original.
Overall, I don’t believe that movies are becoming
of Justice” at 44.
runtime in an effort to emulate that success.
Traditionally, when a movie is adapted from source too long. In an era where people complain about the
While longer movies may be a turn-off for people
with children or small bladders, they are some of the material o f some sort, such as a book, TV show, of lack of original stories in cinema, pushing the length
most successful movies. Are we going to be seeing video game, people (and studios) understand that of a film isn’t a bad idea. Thete is ho formula to
one movie may simply not be enough) or that the make a good movie, but if people want to stop seeing
more movies of this length?' | |
movie will need to be a little longer. Additionally, copy-and-pasted storylines and sequels, they should
some studios will produce more movies to simply expect to see changes in the movies we watch.
Let’ s talk numbers.
With the way longer movies have become successful
According to Metacritic, .“ Avengers: Endgame” make more money.
“The Lord of The Rings” series is famously known recently, it certainly doesn’t seem like anybody is
received an average score of 78/100 from 57 critics.:
However, “ Avengers: Endgame” is aisa the. highest- for'every installment running more than three houfs coifiplaining. This gives directors the, opportunity
grossing film erf all-tim e, clocking in at $2.7-billion long, (longer still with the extended cut,) and most to use more footage without having to worry about
- people are okay with it due tQ the fact that the source condensing it within Hollywood restraints;
worldwide (data taken from Box Office Mojo.)
If directors were never willing to push the envelope,
The previous holder of that record is another material is 481,103 words long (data taken from LOTR
there wouldn’t be some of the most famous movies
lengthy movie, “Avatar,” and the one before that Project.)
On the flip side of that coin, many people argue we love today; As a consumer, you’ll just have to learn
as well, “ Titanic.” “ Avatar” won three Oscars, and.
that the prequel, “ The Hobbit,” shouldn’t have been to slow down on drinks before the movie.
“ Titanic” won four.
,
expanded into three movies
B O X O F F IC E B E H E M O T H S
- by top lifetime.gross + runtrma
1. Avengers: Endgame
$2.797 billion
3 hr 1 min
2. Avatar
$2.789 billion
2 hr 42 min
3. Titanic
$2.187hillion
3 hr 14 min
4. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
$2.068 billion
2 hr 18 min
5. Avengers: Infinity War
$2.048 billion
2 hr 29 min
Data taken from Box Office Mojo
Clackamas Print ■
■ th ee lac k a m a s p ri n t.c o jn -
-N ovem ber 6» 2019