Will we ever see a new era of long historical epics?

I don't know that you'd say "common," but in earlier eras of film history films that were around four hours (give or take about 20 minutes) at least happened on a somewhat regular basis.

A few that I can remember:

The Ten Commandments (1956) - 3 hrs 40 mins
Ben-Hur (1959) - 3 hrs 44 mins
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) - 4 hrs 20 mins
Cleopatra (1963) - 4 hrs 11 mins
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) - 3 hrs 48 mins
Gone with the Wind (1939) - 3 hrs 58 mins

The 50s and 60s seem to be a high point for such films. That's five that I can remember and there are probably a few that are slipping my mind.

Conversely, the only film of the last three decades that I can remember that was that long is Dances With Wolves, which is just under four hours.

About the closest equivalent we seem to have today are the various mini-series that networks occasionally put on. You could argue that those are just very long films. I know the History Channel did a few mini-series a handful of years ago, like The Hatfields & The McCoys and Sons of Liberty. Those were good.

There's also two-movie long Red Cliff (2008 and 2009).

i actually bought that movie on Blu-Ray just because it was only $7.50 at Best Buy, and then I never watched it. Now I no longer have the Blu-Ray.

Any good?

The thing is, not every story needs 8 seasons (remember that GoT is an adaptation of several large books). For that not, not every story even needs 10 episodes.

At the same time, sometimes 2 hrs is not sufficient.

As I was saying earlier, I think the modern mini-series is roughly equivalent to those old epics. Even though it wasn't a historical story, I am reminded of the Stephen King mini-series Storm of the Century, which ran for three episodes and clocked in at just over four hours. Lonesome Dove was four episodes and ran about 6 1/2 hours. On the shorter end of the spectrum, I remember there was a Joan of Arc mini-series and also a Merlin mini-series, both of which ran right around three hours.

The problem there is that the three- or four-night mini-series format just isn't used much anymore (note that I'm making a distinction between "mini-series" and the longer "limited series.") Its heyday seemed to have been in the 90s (three of the four I mentioned earlier were from the late 90s). I really think this format should be revived. I remember when these used to air they were television EVENTS! It was a big deal! And it was the perfect way to tell stories that were a little too long for a film but not long enough for a whole TV series.

The only mini-series that I can remember from the past 20 years or so is a mini-series that ABC did on Bernie Madoff and a handful that the History Channel did a few years ago, but now seem to have discontinued.

As I was just saying in the post directly above yours though, not every story needs the "long-form television" treatment. Some stories simply do not require 10 hours or more to tell them properly, but they also can't be told in the typical two-hour window of a normal film.

So what do we do with stories like that?

Not a great film, but a better film than it got credit for.

Epics are usually remakes tho'

Somewhat similar, but as you say, not quite the same. Speaking of that though, I just realized that the Return of the King extended edition, by itself, is over 4 hours long. That's crazy as shit.

I do want more epic films, though. It's not just the length, but also the subject matter, that is of interest. Ancient worlds, heroic warriors, and tales that often are literally of biblical proportions. That is fun stuff.

Ironically, those are all films that I have not yet gotten around to. I will have to check them out.