The figure is surprising: according to American spectators, short films are preferable to long screenings. And you ? Don’t hesitate to share your opinion in the comments!
According to Talker Research (formerly OnePoll US), an online survey conducted in April among 2,000 Americans concluded that the “ideal” length of a film is… 92 minutes! Respondents actually chose this figure as their preferred broadcast length, while 15% said films longer than 120 minutes (2 hours) were “acceptable” and only 2% were “satisfied” with a film longer than 120 minutes (2 hours). more than 150 minutes (2h30 hours).
On the face of it, this statement conflicts with commercial realities, since nine of the ten highest-grossing films of all time are over two hours long, three of which – Avengers: Endgame, Avatar, The Way of Water and Titanic – even last more than three hours each. Only The Lion King in live action of 2019, in ninth place among the most profitable films, lasts just under two hours, namely 118 minutes (which still does not correspond to the ideal 92 minutes!).
And what about the two phenomenon films of the summer: Oppenheimer lasted 3 hours and 9 seconds, compared to 1 hour and 54 minutes for Barbie: if the latter is close to the so-called “perfect” score, the first is very far away !
However, a new problem emerged recently after some theaters interrupted the screening of Martin Scorsese’s 206-minute (i.e. 3:26) film Killers of the Flower Moon with an unauthorized intermission. The director had already defended the length of his feature film by declaring: “You can sit in front of the television and watch something for five hours… There are a lot of people who watch theater for 3.5 hours… Give cinema some respect.”
A recent study by What to Watch suggests, for its part, that the average length of the most commercially successful films is increasing, with an average length of 141 minutes in 2022 compared to 110 minutes in 1981. A number of reasons have been put forward , the ability of streaming platforms to ignore the rigidity of cinema screening schedules, or the desire to present expensive visual effects and action sequences that have proliferated over the past decade.
Talker Research also asked survey respondents about using subtitles when watching TV: 33% said they “never” used them while 16% said they They have “always” used them. However, the figures in question seem to be more age-related, with younger people being more likely to use them: 23% of Generation Y (or millennials) said they “always” use subtitles, as did 30%. of Generation Z.
Avengers: Endgame, Avatar, Titanic, Star Wars: The Force Awakens or Avengers: Infinity War – all of which are among the highest-grossing films of all time and all last more than two hours – can be found streaming on Disney+.
