Ideal movie length for Americans decreases to 88 minutes, and Gen Z wants it even shorter

Americans want shorter films— the ideal movie length is just 88 minutes, according to our new research.

Key takeaways, in brief:

Americans’ ideal movie length is 88 minutes, down from 92 minutes in 2024.
Ideal length increases with age: Gen Z averages just 82 minutes, millennials 86, Gen X 89, and boomers 93 minutes.
Only 10% of Americans want movies two hours or longer.
Summer’s biggest releases run well past ideal. The Odyssey (172 min) and Spider-Man: Brand New Day (150 min). Minions & Monsters (90 min) comes closest.

That’s the findings of our new Talker Research survey of 2,000 people, which indicates Americans want less time in movie theaters overall.

While the average ideal movie length came in at just under the hour-and-a-half mark, only 10% of Americans voted for two hours or longer, and just 3% say movies should run over 2.5 hours.

The patience of moviegoers is slightly decreasing over the years. We conducted the same questioning in 2024, with the average ideal movie time deemed 92 minutes two years ago.

When explored generationally, movie patience clearly correlates with age. Older movie watchers are more open to longer times, with boomer viewers averaging 93 minutes ideally.

All other generations see their movie time drop below the 90-minute mark, with Gen X at 89 minutes.

Millennial viewers drop again to an average of 86 minutes as the ideal viewing time.

And yet another significant drop for Gen Z audiences, who combined averaged an ideal movie length of just 82 minutes.

Will watchtimes influence the modern moviegoer this summer?

Just two notable new releases come close— Minions and Monsters (90 min) and Jackass: Best and Last (92 mins).

Toy Story 5 is nearly 15 minutes over the ideal (102 min) and notably longer in length than 1995’s Toy Story (81 min).

At the other end of the scale, the biggest summer blockbusters are keen to glue viewers to the cinema chair for much longer durations. Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day is nearly an hour over ‘ideal’ at 145 minutes, as is Spiderman: Brand New Day at two and a half hours (150 min).

Christopher Nolan’s star-studded The Odyssey will be quite the voyage in length and comes in at 172 minutes— close to double the 88-minute ideal average.

For those looking to embrace the 88-minute experience, The Lion King (1994), Zombieland (2009), The Producers (1967) and Airplane! (1980) have ‘ideal’ runtimes.

HOW THIS SUMMER’S MOVIE LENGTHS COMPARE TO THE 88-MINUTE ‘IDEAL’ LENGTH

Minions & Monsters 90 min (+2)
Jackass: Best and Last 92 min (+4)
Toy Story 5 102 min (+14)
Supergirl 108 min (+20)
Moana (live action) 115 min (+27)
The Devil Wears Prada 2 119 min (+31)
Disclosure Day 145 min (+57)
Spider-Man: Brand New Day 150 min (+62)
The Odyssey 172 min (+84)

Research methodology

Talker Research surveyed 2,000 general population Americans who have access to the internet; the survey was administered and conducted online by Talker Research between June 11–17, 2026. A link to the questionnaire can be found here.

To view the complete methodology as part of AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative, please visit the Talker Research Process and Methodology page.

Featured photo by Alex Litvin