Is Hugh right about Oscar films being ‘frankly too long’?

Hugh Grant openly questions length of this year’s awards season contenders. Christopher Nolan’s three-hour epic Oppenheimer is expected to sweep the Oscars. Three of the five other Bafta nominees clock in at over two hours each. The Holdovers, Maestro, and Anatomy of a Fall are also Oscar contenders.

Killers of the Flower Moon is the longest of this year’s best picture contenders. The sense of screenings themselves becoming an all-day event can first be traced back to the 1960s. Lawrence of Arabia ran beyond three-and-a-half hours in 1962. Cleopatra, released a year later, originally stretched to four hours before being cut down.

In 1982 Gandhi was thought to be the last major western feature to include an intermission as standard. In the intervening decades, film lengths have steadily increased, quite literally keeping audiences in their seats. But advancements in projector technology meant intermissions were no longer needed, and this staple of movie-going was phased out. Current popular movie runtimes to be the highest on record.

Highest-grossing movies in the US and Canada have grown by around 30 minutes since 2020 alone, hitting 2hrs 23mins by 2023. Indiana Jones, John Wick and Avengers: Endgame among Oscar nominated films. The first film to win best picture in 1927 was Wings that ran for two hours and 24 minutes. Avatar: The Way of Water, 2023, also hit the three-hour mark.

These films are larger than life and often encompass a long, developed story that asks people to be emotionally invested. streaming services vie with Hollywood for credibility and prestige. Scorsese turned to Netflix to fund his Oscar nominated The Irishman. David Fincher, Rian Johnson and latterly Ridley Scott have followed suit.

The dynamic can weaken producer control and inflate runtimes. Traditional film studios are having to find a delicate balance between squeezed costs and the challenge of tempting people away from home streaming. Erin Brockovich producer Michael Shamberg: Now when you leave your house to pay to see a movie, you want an emotional sure thing for your time. Cinema increasingly tied to social media buzz.

You also want a bigger experience than streaming a movie in your living room," he added. Top Gun: Maverick post-lockdown last year, or Oppenheimer last year,. to mask over the cracks of reduced pulling power. Cinema chains can struggle with a flurry of longer films, says Clapp.

This means less screenings, choice and ultimately tickets sold. Only a fraction of this can be made up by popcorn and fizzy drinks, or luxury seating. Scorsese says immersive screenings can weaken films. Cinema chain Vue was among a handful worldwide to forgo distribution agreements and trial intervals during Killers of the Flower Moon.

We would never want to dictate creative licence, but there’s a desire amongst a proportion of the audience for a break,"" Vue chief executive Tim Richards said. Scorsese: People getting up midway through a film causes more disruption. Nolan: “I view myself as the audience. I make the films that I would really really like to see” Payne: “There are too many damn long movies these days.

Lengthy runtimes should always be the shortest possible version” Dune: Part Two, released last week, outlasts the original film’s 155-minute runtime by ten minutes, providing five hours of desert adventure in total. One nationwide chain, Showcase Cinemas, offered both instalments back-to-back across the opening night.

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