This year, we’ve seen quite a bit of talk regarding run times of films. It started earlier this year when people were concerned by the 3-hour length of Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” Obviously, that film ended up doing just fine at the box office. However, Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” ups the ante with a 3.5-hour run time. But according to the filmmaker, people need to relax when they talk about film length.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, Martin Scorsese talked about the long run time of his forthcoming crime drama, “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Particularly, he wanted to address the concern that a 3.5-hour film would be difficult for people to sit through in theaters. The filmmaker pointed to the fact that people will gladly binge hours of TV at a time and sit through long stage productions. So, films should earn that same respect.
“In the case of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ it should be seen on the big screen,” said Scorsese. “Are we intending to make a blockbuster? No, we’re making a movie, which should be watched on the big screen. Other pictures I made? Maybe not. Sometimes, it’s the strength of the picture too, if it plays well on a smaller screen, that’s interesting. Killers could play on a small screen, but in order to truly immerse yourself, you should take out the time.”
“People say it’s three hours, but come on, you can sit in front of the TV and watch something for five hours. Also, there are many people who watch theater for 3.5 hours,” added the filmmaker. “There are real actors on stage, you can’t get up and walk around. You give it that respect, give cinema some respect.”
Now, there are plenty of people (mostly people of a younger generation) who see what Scorsese says about franchise films, the death of cinema, and giving films “respect” as an old man yelling at the clouds, but there is some validity to what he’s saying. Every time we see this debate about film run times, it seems to be blown way out of proportion. If the quality of a film is good, then the length really doesn’t matter. And if Scorsese needs 3.5 hours to tell his story in ‘Killers,’ then give it to him. Conversely, the filmmaker should also understand that people have the option nowadays to skip the theatrical release and wait (not very long) to see it on streaming, in the comfort of their own homes. Is it as Scorsese intended? No. But hey, at least people are watching.
The real question is whether or not the length of ‘Killers’ will affect the box office. There are quite a few people turned off by the idea of a 3.5-hour film. But this is Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio. They might just make the exception for those names.