Leaving Less On The Cutting Room Floor

Ramin Setoodeh takes out his stopwatch:

Twenty years ago, the average running time of the top-five grossing movies of the year was 118.4 minutes. In 2012 that number so far averages to 142 minutes. Longer movies are now becoming a mainstay of the summer—as well as fall and winter. The Avengers, the most successful movie of the year, had a running time of 143 minutes. The Dark Knight Rises, the No. 2 biggest movie, went on for 165 minutes. The Hunger Games (142 minutes), The Amazing Spider-Man (136 minutes), and Battleship (131 minutes) could have used some—or a lot—of tightening. In 1990 Home Alone was only 103 minutes.