After the strikes of 2023, viewers went into last year with extra excitement.
Some of thehighest-grossing films of 2024included Wicked, Marvels Wolverine & Deadpool, and Inside Out 2.
Long movies are nothing new in Hollywood, but theyre historically difficult to market.
Theres a good reason whyDivorce in the Blackhas a 0% Rotten Tomatoes score.
DespiteDivorce in the Blacks excellent cast, only the first 10 minutes of the Tyler Perry film are intriguing.
The most recent installment of thePlanet of the Apesmovie franchiseis the 2024 filmKingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
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The previous film,War for the Planet of the Apes, was only 5 minutes shorter.
A few scenes in the middle linger a little too long without having a dramatic impact.
For this reason, the length is a hindrance to the overall story.
Shockingly,Gladiator IIwas originally significantly longer.
His 2024 filmKinds of Kindnessis a triptych that explores the human condition with biting misanthropy.
Rather than switching out the leads in each story, thesame actors appear as multiple charactersthroughout the anthology.
Nobody should be surprised byKinds of Kindness 2-hour and 44-minute runtime.
Still, the response toKinds of Kindnesss story and length was highly divided.
The directors narrative style and self-aggrandizing cleverness are an acquired taste thats off-putting to many audience members.
In the case ofKinds of Kindness, the length makes these qualities less bearable.
This film could have been cut in half, and the story would have worked just as well.
As such, the padded scenes feel like Oscar bait rather than offering anything meaningful to the general audience.
Luckily,the length ofDune: Part 2benefits the story, offering more character development and action.
Almost every scene has an impact on the bigger story, making the runtime feel necessary.
The film tells the fictionalized story of American settlers who seek out a life in the West in 1859.
A 3-hour and 1-minute runtime is a significant ask for theatrically released films.
It also negatively impacts revenue because not many people will pay theater prices to see four three-hour-long movies.
Ultimately, Costner would have been better off adapting his story for TV.
Set several years after the events of War for the Planet of the Apes, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the next installment in the Apes saga. Ape clans have taken up residence in the oasis that Caesar sought to colonize, but humans have reverted to their animalistic nature in their absence. Now battling between enslavement and freedom, outliers in the Ape clans will take sides in a newly burgeoning society.
Shockingly, the drama completely warrants the absurdly long runtime.
Ultimately, Corbet was right to stand his ground about the movie’s length.
