Once upon a time in Hollywood
This week's release of Christopher Nolan’s bombshell biopic, Oppenheimer, will undoubtedly make an impact on cinemas globally — if viewers can make it through the entire runtime without too many comfort breaks.
In an interview with Total Film Magazine, Nolan revealed that Oppenheimer will be his longest film yet, at just shy of 3 hours. That's even longer than the director's 2014 epic Interstellar, which warped time in both its plot and reality with a 169 minute runtime, aligning the ballistic launch of Oppenheimer with the trajectory of blockbuster movies becoming lengthier in recent years.
Reely long
As reported by Chartr in 2022, based on the average run time of the 10 most popular movies at the US box office for each year from 1995–2022, the highest grossing films have been trending towards getting longer. In fact, that trend was most pronounced last year, with the average runtime of the 10 biggest blockbusters coming in at 136 minutes. From 1995-1999, the top films averaged a 117 minute runtime, suggesting we've come to expect at least 15-20 minutes more movie.
In Oppenheimer's case, even the physical IMAX reel of the film itself is a behemoth — stretched end-to-end it's over 11 miles long and weighs some 600 pounds. The Barbie movie, thankfully, is a little lighter in runtime, coming in at just 1 hour 54 minutes.
