Why the average moviegoer demands shorter films

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Americans want shorter films— the ideal movie length is just 88 minutes, according to new research.

That’s the findings of a new survey of 2,000 people from Talker Research, which indicates Americans want less time in movie theaters overall.

While the average ideal movie length came in at just under the hour-and-a-half mark, only 10% of Americans voted for two hours or longer, and just 3% say movies should run over 2.5 hours.

The patience of moviegoers is slightly decreasing over the years. Talker Research conducted the same questioning in 2024, with the average ideal movie time deemed 92 minutes two years ago.

When explored generationally, movie patience clearly correlates with age. Older movie watchers are more open to longer times, with boomer viewers averaging 93 minutes ideally.

All other generations see their movie time drop below the 90-minute mark, with Gen X at 89 minutes.

Millennial viewers drop again to an average of 86 minutes as the ideal viewing time.

And yet another significant drop for Gen Z audiences, who combined averaged an ideal movie length of just 82 minutes.

Will watchtimes influence the modern moviegoer this summer? Just two notable new releases come close— Minions and Monsters (90 min) and Jackass: Best and Last (92 mins).

Toy Story 5 is nearly 15 minutes over the ideal (102 min) and notably longer in length than 1995’s Toy Story (81 min).

At the other end of the scale, the biggest summer blockbusters are keen to glue viewers to the cinema chair for much longer durations. Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day is nearly an hour over ‘ideal’ at 145 minutes, as is Spiderman: Brand New Day at two and a half hours (150 min).

Christopher Nolan’s star-studded The Odyssey will be quite the voyage in length and comes in at 172 minutes— close to double the 88-minute ideal average.

For those looking to embrace the 88-minute experience, The Lion King (1994), Zombieland (2009), The Producers (1967) and Airplane! (1980) have ‘ideal’ runtimes.

• Minions & Monsters 90 min (+2)
• Jackass: Best and Last 92 min (+4)
• Toy Story 5 102 min (+14)
• Supergirl 108 min (+20)
• Moana (live action) 115 min (+27)
• The Devil Wears Prada 2 119 min (+31)
• Disclosure Day 145 min (+57) Spider-Man: Brand New Day 150 min (+62)
• The Odyssey 172 min (+84)

To view the complete methodology as part of AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative, please visit the Talker Research Process and Methodology page.