Yes, Movies Are Getting Longer

If you’re a movie fan, enjoy discussing films with others, or even work with movies as a profession – like I do – you’ve probably been asked this question recently:

“Why are movies so much longer now?”

Before trying to answer whether movies are getting longer, it’s important to determine if they actually are. It could just be a common feeling, not necessarily true. After all, it’s harder for people to focus for long periods now. We’ve become used to short online videos, so it’s possible movies haven’t changed, but our attention spans have.

It’s surprisingly stable. Film analyst Stephen Follows analyzed over 36,000 movies for The Town podcast and discovered that the average movie length hasn’t changed much over the past few decades. Since the 1980s, it’s stayed around 100 to 103 minutes, and in 2024, the average was just 103.6 minutes.

That’s an average across all movies, but if we focus on films released widely in theaters – meaning those opening in many cinemas across North America – the trend is different. These films averaged around 106 minutes long in the early 2000s. However, by the 2010s and 2020s, that average had increased to 114 minutes.

He points out that movies are now generally about ten minutes longer than they used to be, meaning frequent moviegoers are regularly watching films that stretch on for a noticeably longer time.

I recommend reviewing the data, as it reveals some fascinating trends, including helpful charts. One key finding is that big-budget movies are getting noticeably longer than films in other genres. Over the past 40 years, the number of widely released movies under 90 minutes has significantly decreased – from around 13% in the 1980s to just 7% in the 2020s.

Have you noticed movies seem to be getting longer? There’s actually data to support that feeling. And it’s not just the films themselves – pre-movie ads and trailers have also increased in length, making the whole cinema trip feel even longer.

If all of that is true, it’s not necessarily a negative. While a longer movie could be dull, it could also be incredibly captivating. If you prefer shorter entertainment, like a quick laugh, you can easily find that on your phone – the one you’re always careful not to drop and break!

I generally prefer longer movies. Just like cinemas once used grand, sweeping stories and bigger screens to compete with television, films today can differentiate themselves from short-form online videos by offering a more immersive and extended viewing experience – something you can’t easily get from scrolling through social media.

That’s a topic for another time, maybe. I still agree with Roger Ebert’s idea that a great movie always feels too short, while a bad movie always feels too long.

TV Shows With the Longest Gaps Between Seasons

Sherlock (3 years)

The TV show Sherlock is well-known for having long waits between seasons, even though each season is relatively short – only three 90-minute episodes, each based on a story by Arthur Conan Doyle. While the gaps aren’t as long as some other shows, fans had to wait three years between seasons three and four (2014-2017), with just a single New Year’s special in 2016 to hold them over. There’s been discussion about a new season, and if it arrives in 2025 or 2026, it could mean eight or nine years since the last episodes aired.

Atlanta (4 years)

After a long hiatus following its second season in 2018, Atlanta returned with two seasons in 2022. The show aired ten episodes of its third season from March to May, and then another ten episodes of its fourth season from September to November. The delay was due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which shut down filming in 2020. Although Atlanta had been renewed for two more seasons in 2019, production had to be put on hold. Filming for both seasons took place back-to-back in 2021, finishing in February 2022, which allowed the show to release them within months of each other.

Black Mirror (4 years)

For nine years, Black Mirror consistently released new content, including five seasons, a Christmas special, and an interactive film. After its fifth season in 2019, it seemed the show had lost its edge – the dystopian fears it presented no longer felt distant. However, in June 2023, a sixth season unexpectedly premiered with five new episodes, essentially warning viewers about the dangers of constant digital connection. Whether you enjoy it or not, Black Mirror is also recognized for bringing the anthology format back into popularity for modern television.

True Detective (5 years)

Before its fourth season, Night Country, debuts in 2024, True Detective had its longest gap between seasons two and three – a four-year wait. Although season three was an improvement over season two, it experienced a noticeable decline in viewers. This led HBO to spend time developing a fresh direction for the show. Night Country centers on two detectives investigating the deaths of scientists in Alaska. This season also marks a change in leadership, with Issa López taking over as showrunner from Nic Pizzolatto, who ran the first three seasons and is also planned to lead the fifth.

Curb Your Enthusiasm (6 years)

For the first twelve years, from 2000 to 2011, Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm released a new season almost every year. After that, the show took a long break while David worked on other things, but it returned in 2017 with a ninth season that featured David accidentally causing an international problem while promoting a comedy musical he was passionate about. David has often said he wanted to end the show as early as Season 5, believing it would be the last. However, because fans loved Curb, it continued, and finally concluded with its twelfth and final season in January 2024.

Happy Valley (7 years)

I’ve been a huge fan of Happy Valley for years, and honestly, it’s one of the best crime dramas Britain has produced recently. As a longtime viewer, I can tell you the wait between seasons has been brutal! The first two seasons came out fairly quickly, from 2014 to 2016, which felt normal for a quality show back then. But then… nothing for seven years! It finally returned in 2023, and it’s amazing how the show mirrored real life – seven years had passed for the characters just like it had for us. The new season picks up with Sergeant Catherine Cawood planning her retirement, but of course, a terrible new murder throws everything into chaos. It’s a brilliant continuation, and it feels so authentic because of that time jump.

The Real Housewives of Miami (8 years)

As a long-time watcher of the Real Housewives franchise, I was thrilled when The Real Housewives of Miami got a second chance. Originally canceled after just three seasons back in 2013, Andy Cohen stepped in and brought it back eight years later with a fresh cast – a mix of familiar faces and exciting newcomers. The fourth season debuted on Peacock, and the fifth continued streaming there, but Bravo recognized its success and brought the show back to traditional television for season six. It’s safe to say the reboot has worked; the show is doing well and has already been picked up for a seventh season, which is fantastic news for fans like me!

Arrested Development (8 years)

When the beloved sitcom Arrested Development was canceled in 2006 after three seasons of low ratings, fans feared they’d seen the last of the Bluth family and their banana stand. However, nearly a decade later, the show surprisingly found new life on Netflix, which commissioned a new season in 2011. This fourth season premiered in 2013, eight years after the original cancellation, but with a unique format: all episodes were released simultaneously and covered the same period of time, each focusing on a different character. The revival received a lukewarm response, so a re-edited version presenting the episodes in chronological order was released in 2018, followed by a fifth and final season.

Doctor Who (16 years)

Whether you call it a fresh start or a return to form, the new season of Doctor Who is actually the show’s 27th. It begins with the ninth Doctor, picking up the story 16 years after the original series ended (and 9 years after the TV movie featuring the eighth Doctor). When Russell T. Davies was given creative control at the BBC, reviving Doctor Who was his top priority. The show had struggled in its final years, and the BBC hoped for a successful comeback. This new era continues the original storyline, bringing back familiar characters and villains to delight longtime fans and expand the show’s rich history.

Twin Peaks (26 years)

Laura Palmer’s mysterious message to Agent Cooper – “I’ll see you again in 25 years” – turned out to be remarkably accurate. After the show was cancelled by ABC, leaving the terrifying Black Lodge storyline unresolved, fans waited over two decades for a continuation. Luckily, Twin Peaks returned 26 years later with a third season, Twin Peaks: The Return. The new season mirrored the real-world time jump, showing what happened to the characters 26 years after the original ended – and even gave us two versions of Agent Cooper!

2026-04-03 18:57