10 Best Movies That Are Over 3 Hours Long

Summary

• Long runtimes in movies can lead to deeper storytelling and intricate character development.
• Epics like Titanic and Lawrence of Arabia set the standard for grand cinematic experiences.
• The length of a film doesn’t always dictate its impact, as seen with shorter comedies and indie films.

When a movie has a long runtime, it’s a divisive choice that causes significant reactions from critics and audiences alike. A film that’s over three hours long is a marathon viewing session for even the most dedicated cinephile, but such a long runtime means that the filmmakers and actors have the chance to experiment and tell a sweeping story. Often considered the best epics of all time, they are revered for their contributions to cinema and are remembered for their impact and influence on the way stories are told onscreen.

The longer the film, the more expensive and labor-intensive its production is, especially when it comes to the modern epics that have been cropping up at the theater.

While there are many great movies under 90 minutes long, these are typically comedies or independent films that don’t have the backing or budget to carry a long runtime. The longer the film, the more expensive and labor-intensive its production is, especially when it comes to the modern epics that have been cropping up at the theater. Though some of the most high-profile three-hour movies that have swept during awards season and at the box office are about huge historical events, others are smaller and more intimate tales that anyone can relate to.

10 Titanic (1997)

Runtime: 3 hours and 14 minutes

Thanks to its runtime,
Titanic
transforms several times throughout the story, as the ship doesn’t begin to sink until the last section of the movie.

Simultaneously a love story, a tragedy, and a fictionalized retelling of a historical event, Titanic has something for viewers of all kinds. The film cemented Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as two of the biggest budding stars of the late 1990s and has come to define the director, James Cameron’s, style and commitment to his work. Thanks to its runtime, Titanic transforms several times throughout the story, as the ship doesn’t begin to sink until the last section of the movie.

In the case of Titanic, the runtime was purposeful, as Cameron timed the movie so that all of the scenes on the ship during Rose and Jack’s initial timeline were a total of two hours and forty minutes. This is the amount of time the Titanic took to sink in real life, with the present-day scenes making up the remainder of the over three-hour length. Titanic is visually and technically an extremely compelling film because of this attention to detail, but the star of the film is the relationship between Rose and Jack.

9 The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003)

Runtime: 3 hours and 21 minutes

The final installment of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy had a lot of ground to cover and many storylines to wrap up to do justice to J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy masterpiece. The Return of the King was enormously successful at the box office, making over $1 billion internationally. Critically and in terms of audience reception, the film had nothing to fear about viewers hesitating to sit through the runtime. Anticipation had been building for The Return of the King since the release of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, which both had comparable lengths.

Watching all the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies takes a long time, as The Return of the King isn’t the only film with an impressive runtime. Additionally, there are alternate cuts of The Return of the King that see the runtime increase to over four hours. There is already a great deal that the movie omits from the source material and alters the pacing to appeal to modern audiences. If The Return of the King had been any shorter, it would have lost the elements that make it such an enduring movie.

8 Oppenheimer (2023)

Runtime: 3 hours

The film serves primarily as a biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer during his time spearheading the invention of the atomic bomb.

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer runtime is his longest by far when compared to his other works, but the audience is never bored throughout the three hours. The film serves primarily as a biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer during his time spearheading the invention of the atomic bomb. Cillian Murphy gives a career-best performance of Oppenheimer, capturing the emotional and intellectual dissonance that Oppenheimer experienced throughout his career and in the wake of the bomb’s devastation.

2023 was a big year for cinema, and Oppenheimer was only one of several movies with an exceptionally long runtime for the modern era. However, the fact that it was so well-received and earned so much at the box office indicates that audiences still have an appetite for these significant films. Nolan turned up the volume on everything in the movie, from the special effects and specialized film stock to the runtime, making the project as impactful as its subject.

7 Malcolm X (1992)

Runtime: 3 hours and 22 minutes

Denzel Washington stars as Malcolm X in Spike Lee’s dramatized biopic about the life and activism of the political leader and revolutionary. The film chronicles X’s entire life from his early childhood to his assassination in 1965, so it makes sense that the runtime would have to be almost three and a half hours long to accommodate the many changes and evolutions that X goes through. In the years since Malcolm X premiered, the film has only grown in audience and critical acclaim and is considered one of Washington and Lee’s best projects.

A litany of other amazing actors joined Washington in the film, like Angela Bassett and Albert Hall. Though the characters are portraying a time gone by, the audience rarely feels that the work is a period piece. This is because its subject and plot points feel more immediate than ever. The film drew inspiration from The Autobiography of Malcolm X for the structure and events in the story while incorporating cinematic elements to make the already incredible narrative larger than life.

6 Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai Du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

Runtime: 3 hours and 22 minutes

While other long movies pack their runtime with explosive action sequences and as much plot as possible,
Jeanne Dielman
is painfully slow and methodical in its pacing.

Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles has recently been reappraised as one of the greatest films ever made and is different from anything most modern audiences have ever experienced. While other long movies pack their runtime with explosive action sequences and as much plot as possible, Jeanne Dielman is painfully slow and methodical in its pacing. However, this test of patience unfolds to incredible results and is a revolutionary piece of cinema for its depiction of the lead character through a feminist lens.

Jeanne Dielman was named the magazine Sight and Sound’s best film of all time in 2022, bringing renewed attention to the too-often overlooked masterpiece. It’s no secret that there is a rampant issue of sexism in the film industry and that few female filmmakers are appropriately recognized for their work or given opportunities to create things. Jeanne Dielman is a testament not only to the importance of exposure for female filmmakers but also to how more experimental and slower-paced films can be just as thrilling and entertaining.

5 Schindler’s List (1993)

Runtime: 3 hours and 15 minutes

Based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, Schindler’s List won many awards after its release, but it’s not only because of these accolades that the film should be remembered. The film was a departure for the director, Steven Spielberg, as many of his films had been classic blockbusters that appealed to younger audiences and shied away from serious historical events. However, he proved with Schindler’s List that he was capable of handling much more than shark attacks and friendly aliens.

Schindler’s List has inspired a great number of films that discuss the Holocaust and World War II, as the visual choices Spielberg made were just as affecting as the story beats. Primarily shot in black and white, Schindler’s List is an early example of movies that blend black and white and color for thematic effect. Part of the reason Schindler’s List has such a significant runtime is because so much of the story is dedicated to Schindler’s character development and the intense ideological change he goes through, brilliantly portrayed by Liam Neeson.

4 The Godfather Part II (1974)

Runtime: 3 hours and 22 minutes

Providing both a prequel and sequel story to the original film,
The Godfather
,
The Godfather Part II
takes the stakes and tension from the first installment and increases them across the board.

The Godfather Part II is considered the best of Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic film series, and it juggles several timelines and plots throughout its epic runtime. Providing both a prequel and sequel story to the original film, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II takes the stakes and tension from the first installment and increases them across the board. Though the runtime and pacing of the movie are now considered justified in the context of the narrative, much of the movie’s time is given to flashbacks that bolster the present-day narrative.

The performances of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are largely regarded as some of the best acting ever seen on film, and their partnership with the director has confirmed Coppola’s reputation as one of the most important film directors of the 20th century. Time has only seen an increase in praise and adoration for the film, even though the film had already won Best Picture and Best Director at the Academy Awards. Today, few films have maintained their reputations the way The Godfather Part II has.

3 A Brighter Summer Day (1991)

Runtime: 3 hours and 57 minutes

At almost four hours long, A Brighter Summer Day fully encompasses the odyssey its main character, Xiao Si’r, embarks on as he attempts to navigate adolescence during a time of upheaval in Taiwan in the 1960s. The film is loosely based on a true crime story from this era but is much more focused on the elements that come together to change Si’r rather than the crime itself. Unlike many other epics of similar genres, A Brighter Summer Day is irrevocably set in the throes of the early teen years and takes the trials of youth with the utmost seriousness.

A Brighter Summer Day is not the only film by the director, Edward Yang, to be praised for its story and visual innovation, as his 2000 film Yi Yi is similarly incredible but just under 3 hours. Though the film didn’t receive international acclaim until the 21st century, it’s retroactively considered one of the best films of 1991 and has been highlighted for its emotional realism in its portrayal of youth. Though the characters have not yet reached adulthood, the length of the story lends itself to proving how real and relevant their problems are.

2 Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)

Runtime: 3 hours and 38 minutes

It won several accolades at the Academy Awards, being highlighted for its direction and incredible cinematography that lent themselves to the sweeping nature of the movie.

Based on the life of the real figure T. E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia sees Peter O’Toole take on the iconic role and contribute to the film’s reputation as one of the best biopic movies of all time. It won several accolades at the Academy Awards, being highlighted for its direction and incredible cinematography that lent themselves to the sweeping nature of the movie. Though Lawrence of Arabia‘s runtime was quite significant for 1962, every frame of the story feels immediately necessary when taking in the story of such a complex man.

It’s fair to say that epics like Lawrence of Arabia don’t get made anymore and that only during the Golden Age of Hollywood could such resources and budget be given to a historical epic. Lawrence of Arabia has come to define what an “epic” film is and is remembered as a significant contribution to film history. O’Toole would be linked to playing Lawrence for the rest of his career and defined what many considered to be the blueprint for the modern movie hero.

1 Seven Samurai (1954)

Runtime: 3 hours and 27 minutes

Few films have been remade and readapted as many times as Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, with the two American iterations of The Magnificent Seven in 1960 and 2016 being only a few on the list. However, no reimagining of the tale comes close to the original Seven Samurai, which revolutionized samurai and action films in the latter half of the 20th century. Kurosawa’s legacy is linked to Seven Samurai, and he’s credited with the creation of many tropes that have transformed the action and ensemble dramas into what they’re known as today.

There isn’t a wasted moment in all of Seven Samurai, and there’s no question that its nearly 3-and-a-half-hour runtime is justified. Though it moves quickly and incorporates plenty of thrilling action sequences, the pacing is well-balanced, with breaks in the tension giving the audience a breather but never losing momentum. The characters and emotional dynamics are just as impactful as the lightning-fast and beautifully choreographed fight scenes, leaving little to no room for criticism when it comes to Seven Samurai.