The ideal movie runtime is officially the same length as Monsters Inc. and Beetlejuice

Apr. 30, 2024

Short and sweet

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A new survey has revealed the ideal movie runtime – and it’s short and sweet.

According to Talker Research (viaThe Guardian), a poll carried out among 2,000 Americans revealed that 92 minutes was the preferred running time for movies, with 15% of respondents saying that films over two hours were acceptable and only 2% saying that they were happy if a movie was over two and a half hours.

However, this data seems a little at odds with the box office.Avatar, the highest-grossing movie of all time, has a runtime of two hours and 42 minutes, whileAvengers: EndgameandAvatar: The Way of Water, the second and third highest-grossing, clock in at three hours and three hours and 12 minutes respectively. Other movies in the top 10 likeStar Wars: The Force AwakensandAvengers: Infinity Warare also longer than two hours, while Titanic is over three hours long.

That being said, there are plenty of stone-cold classics that clock in at the 92-minute mark. Movies with the reportedly “ideal” runtime includePixarfavorite Monsters Inc., horror-comedy Beetlejuice, cult classic Clerks, Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata, and screwball comedy His Girl Friday.

The poll also asked people about using subtitles while watching movies, and these results seem to depend on the age of respondents. 33% of people said they never used them, but 23% of millennials and 30% of Gen Z said they always did.

For more movie-watching inspiration, check out our guide to the most excitingupcoming moviesand our list of the biggestmovie release datesat a glance.

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I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.

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