We went to see Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes last night and it wasnāt bad, but it did drag at times. Lose 30 minutes with tighter editing and it could have been quite good (this seems to be a phrase that Iāve repeated on numerous occasions recently), however, as it is it gets a 6.5/10.
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I think there are two reasons:
Reason number 1 -- for theatrically released films, I think producers have decided the 'more bang for your buck' that audiences require to leave the comfort of their homes means more of everything, including minutes. 'Will they show up for a tight 90 to 100 minutes any more? Give them 140.'
Reason number 2 is the main one though -- streaming services want your eyeballs for as long as possible. This is also why things that might once have been films are now expanded into multi-episode limited series that could benefit from losing a couple of instalments
Martin Scorsese stated he made The IRISHMAN 4 Hours specifically for the Streaming world so you could relax at home and enjoy it and pause it if need be
shareThe Irishman was a Netflix production. And Killers of the Flower Moon was funded by Apple. No coincidence, that. These streaming companies certainly won't put any pressure on big name directors to reduce runtimes. They'd have probably preferred both these projects to be eight hour miniseries.
This is also the main reason for the rise of 'prestige TV' in the streaming era. The streaming services want our eyeballs for longer, so they pour more resources into television shows.
So -- yeah -- films tend to be longer than they need to be these days because the people involved in making them aren't as concerned as they used to be about trimming them and in some cases actively want them to be longer.
- It makes movies feel more epic.
- More movie for your buck.
- TikTok generation has made people think movies are too long.
- Expanding story in fear character development isn't developed enough.
- Overwriting
Watched this yesterday: https://moviechat.org/tt0104427/Hoffa I was a bit reluctant at first when I saw that its runtime was 2hrs, 20mins. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to watch it in its entirety. Of course, being in the comfort of my home, going for a fresh beer during ad breaks made that possible. š
shareI won't go see long movies in the theatre. I just can't do it. I can't pause when I have to pee. I like getting theatre popcorn and a drink, so I will have to pee. I save the longer movies for home. Which is a shame, because so many theatres now have the reclining seats, and it's actually really comfortable and a good experience. I'd actually like to go see more movies on the big screen.
shareI think going forward, we're gonna be seeing more long movies.
Cause some, if not most of the these are being made for or with streaming in mind.
Cause unlike a theatre, at home, you can pause a movie, go to the bathroom, make dinner or whatever & just watch it in chunks.