What are they? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a running time is the amount of time that a movie, performance, recording, etc., lasts from beginning to end. If you were to watch a film at your local movie theater, the running time would include what you see from the moment the lights dim for the feature presentation all the way up until the moment the final credits stop rolling. Though opening and closing credits are included in running times, trailers and advertisements that are shown in the theater prior to the film starting are not.
So why is this worth discussing and what do we know know about how running times that will help us make a great film? I’ll tell you.
Though I’d never noticed it before beginning my study of the fifty highest-grossing films of all time (please keep in mind that ticket prices have been adjusted for inflation), I see now that running times have a great deal of importance when it comes to not only creating a film, but planning one as well. From the chart, you can see that films come in a range of running times. Among the films I studied, the shortest film (Bambi) was only 1 hour and 9 minutes, while the longest film (Gone with the Wind) ran for 3 hours and 58 minutes.
As you can see, there are films that can range from just over an hour to nearly four hours! With such a drastic changes in length, how can you be sure which length will work best for your feature-length film? For starters, you can look for patterns.
If you’re looking to create an animation film anywhere over an hour and a half, think again! Though two animation films from the top fifty highest-grossing spanned longer than 1 hour and 30 minutes, the other seven all fell short of an hour and a half. Among the animation films in this category were Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, The Jungle Book, 101 Dalmatians, Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and The Lion King. But wait! There were still two animation films that ran past the 90 minute point, right? Yes, but they were Shrek 2 at 1 hour and 33 minutes (just barely over) and Fantasia at exactly 2 hours–something that does not come as too much of a surprise considering Fantasia is very different from many of the other animation films that have been produced.
This is just one category though, right? Sure, but other genres use similar running time rules as well. Out of the four historical epic films that made the list, all four of them (Cleopatra, Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, and Gone with the Wind) ran over 3 hours. This is understandable, as many films in this genre cover a period in history. For example, below you will find the original trailer for Gone with the Wind, which is not only the number one grossing film of all time (adjusted for inflation) but also the longest film on the fifty-highest grossing films list. This type of story doesn’t describe just the characters, but rather a time in history (in this case it talks about the fall of the South). With so much time and events to cover, it needs almost 4 hours in order for an audience to fully understand the story.
Though animation and historical epic have proven to be the most prominent genres to adhere to specific running times, there are other subtle clues to be found within other genres. For example, through comparing running times (see chart at the end of this post to check it out yourself) I found that five out of the eight comedies that made this list have a running time that runs between 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours. Likewise, sci-fi films tend to also follow a pattern with five of the eight sci-fi films on this list falling between 2 hours to 2 hours and 30 minutes. Does this mean that a sci-fi film running an hour and a half won’t sell? Of course not! Every rule has its exceptions. Overall though, a sci-fi audience might not be as opt to see a shorter film if what they’re accustomed to watching traditional sci-fi films with story plots spanning at least two hours.
I hope these discoveries have been as interesting to you as they were to me! Please feel free to check out my list of the top fifty highest grossing films with their accompanying running times and genres below (just click the chart to enlarge) Let me know if you can discover any other patterns on your own!
Talk soon and keep writing!
-The Plot Girl
The Plot Girl 