Larger films test the patience of the public

& # 39; It: Chapter Two & # 39; Perhaps it has left money on the table with nearly three hours in a row, because Martin Scorsese 's The Irishman and other fall films require a session of more than two hours.

Movie theater owners may consider resuscitating their breaks.

Ten years ago, the top 10 films of the summer of 2009 had an average duration of 116 minutes. In the summer of 2019, this statistic rose to 125 minutes as Hollywood studios sought to keep filmmakers happy and to draw audiences from their homes with extravagant extras.

Avengers: End of the game, the most profitable film of the summer and the biggest output of all time (unadjusted for inflation), recorded a record time of 182 minutes. And several other recent movies, from Hobbs & Shaw at Once upon a time in Hollywood, pushed beyond 150 minutes. In 2018, the average broadcast time of the top 10 movies for the full year was 132 minutes, slightly lower than the 129 – minute average of 2017.

"It seems that movies are taking more and more time, and not just the more esoteric or epic historical rate that is traditionally treated as long-haul," says Paul Dergarabedian, a Comscore box office analyst.

In fact, the public should watch its liquid consumption "watch a whole movie without a crazy sprint to the toilet," adds Dergarabedian, in the form of horror films (It: Chapter Two), superhero rate (End of Game, Spider-Man: far from home) and literary adaptations The goldfinch) attach the spectators for a long ride.

And there can be a financial cost. September 6 to 8, New Line and director Andy Muschietti It: Chapter Two opened at $ 91 million in the domestic market, a 26% drop from the first IT, which debuted at $ 123.4 million the same weekend in 2017. The rest took 169 minutes, 34 minutes longer than his predecessor.

"Andy had a lot of story to tell by completing his adaptation of Stephen King's book, which has more than 1,100 pages," says Jeff Goldstein, head of distribution at Warner Bros., the parent of New Line. "We have strategically added more shows and venues to offset the loss of a show on every screen."

Add a rival studio ruler It: Chapter Two"Look, $ 91 million is a huge number. But every time the second movie of a discounted franchise falls – and does not go up – it's not what you want. And I think the fact that it has been so long Help me. "

In defense of It: Chapter TwoLonger term, Goldstein highlights Disney's dazzling success End of Game, which raised $ 1.8 billion at the North American box office. "There is no doubt that big weekend premieres are often hampered by long-running films that, by their nature, display fewer emissions per day and therefore have more trouble breaking records." says Dergarabedian. Unless, he adds, "as we have seen on rare occasions, theaters create a special situation by adding unusual projections overnight. Avengers: End of the game was the perfect example of that. "

The most profitable films of the last three years at the global box office have all lasted well over two hours; Avengers: war in the infinite (149 minutes) Star Wars: The Last Jedi (152 minutes) and Captain America: Civil War (146 minutes)

And it's not just science fiction and action blockbuster movies that have been outclassed this summer.

Horror photo of July of the A24 Midsummer, written and directed by Ari Aster, lasted 147 minutes and has reported $ 27 million to date, compared with 127 minutes for the filmmaker's horror film 2018 Hereditary, which won $ 44 million at the box office.

And then there is the return of the author Quentin Tarantino, who this time associates Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt with Once upon a time in Hollywood. With an impressive duration of 161 minutes, the film Sony Pictures has totaled 310 million dollars so far in the world, and will soon pass on the other side of Tarantino. Basterds without glory to rank as the filmmaker's second most profitable film behind Django Unchained ($ 425.4 million), unadjusted for inflation. Django sported a run time of 165 minutes, while Without glory ran 153 minutes.

According to Jeff Bock, a box office analyst, Exhibitor Relations, the length of a movie is not a factor in his box office performance. "Longform is fine as long as you can justify it," he says.

"There is no magic number," says Chris Aronson, former head of distribution at Fox. "If a movie is more than 2:20 [140 minutes]it will probably cost you an hour per screen. But if the director's vision is beautiful and dynamic, then it does not matter. "

Disney – which holds more than 44% of the global market since the beginning of the year – is not afraid to exceed the two hour mark for its live ticket, especially for superhero movies of Marvel. Among the titles of the Disney studios proper, the live-action of Guy Ritchie Aladdin, starring Will Smith, lasted 128 minutes, while its all-star virtual production The Lion King was just shy of that at 118 minutes.

While the summer ends safely (business figure down 2% year-over-year), the trend toward longer battery life shows no sign of slowing down as Hollywood is preparing for an autumnal slate rich in reward-worthy offers.

About 210 minutes, or three and a half hours, the popular drama Netflix by Martin Scorsese L & # 39; Irish Easily eclipses the 180-minute run of his 2013 Academy Award-nominated film the wolf of Wall Street mark the longest narrative feature of his career. L & # 39; Irish The program will be screened exclusively in certain theaters for four weeks starting November 1st and will test the patience of consumers.

In fact, a host of prize contenders have been running for two hours, including Bong Joon-ho's famous black horror comedy. Parasite (132 minutes) Noah Baumbach Wedding story (136 minutes) featuring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver in a couple going through a terrible breakup, Destin Daniel Cretton's legal drama on civil rights Just pity (136 minutes), the epic of David Michod The king (133 minutes) and biopic of James Mangold's race car Ford v. Ferrari (152 minutes).

In recent times, the average length of a nominee for the best Oscar film has hovered around the two hour mark. Now this average is on the rise. Among the class of last year, winner of the best movie Green paper was 130 minutes, while the best nominees for feature films included Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman (135 minutes) A star is born (136 minutes) and Roma (135 minutes). Over the past decade, the longest winner of the best picture has been Fox Searchlight. 12 years of slavery at 134 minutes.

"In an ideal world for movie theater owners, each film would last one and a half to two hours," said Eric Handler, Wall Street analyst at MKM Partners. "But in reality, the film is the most important.If the story has to last more than two hours, that's what counts.You want people to have a good experience."