The Longest Movies in Cinema History
Most movies these days will run for about two hours—frankly, that's the longest attention span most of us have. However, for these movies, you'll need at least three cups of coffee, an energy drink, or some sugary snacks to stay awake for the behemoth run times. Here are 40 of the longest run-times in cinema history.
An Elephant Sitting Still: 3 hours, 55 minutes
Despite the tragic death of its director, Bo Hu, An Elephant Sitting Still (2018) is one of the greatest pieces of Chinese cinematography of the 21st century. It tells the story of a journey by a group of friends to northern China in search of a mysterious elephant seen in a dream by one of their friends.
An Elephant Sitting Still runs for 3 hours and 55 minutes, making it quite the commitment, but also quite the watch.
Dongchun Films, An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
Dances With Wolves: 3 hours, 56 minutes
Kevin Costner's directorial debut in this American Civil War epic is 3 hours and 56 minutes long. It features Costner as a Civil War soldier on a journey of discovery and friendship after meeting a Lakota tribe in the Midwest as he was searching for his regiment.
Widely considered one of the best movies of the '90s, Dances With Wolves has received high praise from critics and was one of the most honored films of the decade in the cinema world.
Tig Productions, Dances with Wolves (1990)
The Iceman Cometh: 3 hours, 59 minutes
Not quite (mercifully, perhaps) pushing the four-hour mark is The Iceman Cometh, a 1973 epic about the adventures of four men who live above a saloon in the midwestern United States. It's based on a play written by Eugene O'Neill in 1939.
At 3 hours and 59 minutes, that ice man better have plenty of water to keep making ice.
American Film Theatre, The Iceman Cometh (1973)
World Famous Lover: 4 hours
World Famous Lover is an epic Bollywood love story that was released in 2020. It's four hours long.
Creative Commercials, World Famous Lover (2020)
Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler: 4 hours, 2 minutes
This 1922 crime thriller epic tells the story of the devious Dr Mabuse, a criminal who uses disguises and hypnosis to rob Berliners of their money whilst gambling. This 4-hour, 2-minute film was directed by Fritz Lang and is based on the novel Doctor Mabuse by Jacquez Norbert.
Uco-Film GmbH, Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922)
Norte, The End Of History: 4 hours, 10 minutes
One of the shorter ones from director Lav Diaz, Norte, The End of History (2013) is an epic crime drama that tells the classic tale of an innocent man going to prison for a time he didn't commit. Norte, The End of History lasts for 4 hours and 10 minutes.
Origin8 Media, Norte, The End of History (2013)
Cleopatra: 4 Hours, 11 minutes
The legendary tale of Egyptian Queen Cleopatra is told in this Richard Mankiewicz-directed film starring Richard Burton as Marc Antony and Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra.
Cleopatra was released in 1963 and has a runtime of 4 hours and 11 minutes.
20th Century Studios, Cleopatra (1963)
The Greatest Story Ever Told: 4 hours, 20 minutes
This 1965 rendition of the story of Jesus featured a star-studded cast, telling the life of Jesus of Nazareth in 4 hours and 20 minutes.
George Stevens Productions, The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King: 4 hours, 23 minutes
In 2003, Peter Jackson produced an extended edition of this epic, based on the works of J.R.R Tolkien.
The Return Of The King has a runtime of 4 hours and 23 minutes.
New Line Cinema, LOTR: The Return Of The King (2003)
Gettysburg: 4 hours, 31 minutes
Set during the American Civil War, Gettysburg (1993) is 4 hours and 31 minutes of historical drama as it retells the tale of the Battle of Gettysburg.
TriStar Television, Gettysburg (1993)
Tsahal: 5 hours, 5 minutes
A far cry from his original epic, Tsahal (1994) is a documentary from Claude Lanzmann about the Israeli Defense Forces and is seen as an examination of what the IDF means to Israel's national identity. The documentary runs for 5 hours and 5 minutes.
France 2 Cinéma, Tsahal (1994)
Fanny And Alexander: 5 hours, 14 minutes
A film about escaping from the clutches of abuse, Fanny and Alexander (1982) tell the story of two siblings whose lives are turned upside down by the death of their father—particularly after their mother remarries a controlling, narcissistic bishop. Alexander's quest to save his sister and mother from their abusive step-parent is told in this 5-hour, 14-minute long epic.
Sveriges Television, Fanny and Alexander (1982)
The Deluge: 5 hours, 15 minutes
The Deluge (1974) is a Polish historical drama film set during the 17th-century Swedish invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It tells the tale of the decimation of a quarter of the entire population of the commonwealth and the destruction of the economy.
The event itself is known as "The Deluge". The film is a 5-hour and 15-minute deluge. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Zespoły Filmowe, The Deluge (1974)
The Big Red One: The Reconstruction: 5 hours, 16 minutes
This 2005 epic is a reworking of Sam Fuller's 1980 epic, The Big Red One. The original film leaves out 48 minutes of footage that The Reconstruction includes, making a total runtime of 5 hours and 16 minutes for Mark Hamill and Co.
Warner Bros., The Big Red One: The Reconstruction (2005)
Happy Hour: 5 hours, 17 minutes
This Japanese flick follows the lives of four women living in Kobe, Japan.
Happy Hour fared well when it was released in 2010 and was even featured at number 85 on the Audio Visual Club's list of top 100 films of 2010. It is 5 hours and 17 minutes long. Happy hour? More like happy 5 hours and 17 minutes.
Nymphomaniac: 5 hours, 25 minutes
Nymphomaniac (2013) is an erotic art film written and directed by Lars von Trier, starring big names such as Shia Lebeouf, Uma Thurman, Willem Defoe, and Christian Slater. Separated into two parts, the film follows Joe, detailing a promiscuous life from adolescence to adulthood.
It won three awards at the Polish Film Festival in 2015—impressive for a film with a run-time of 5 hours and 25 minutes.
Zentropa Entertainments, Nymphomaniac (2013)
Carlos: 5 hours, 39 minutes
This 5-hour, 39-minute epic drama and miniseries about the life of Carlos The Jackal covers his series of terrorist attacks from 1973 until his arrest in 1994. Released in 2010, the full-length film was shown at Cannes in 2010 and was nominated for two Golden Globes, one of which it won: Best Miniseries or Television Film at the 2011 Golden Globes.
La Commune (Paris, 1871): 5 hours, 45 minutes
Released in 2000, this one's a historical reenactment of The Paris Commune, a group of revolutionaries that seized power in France from March 18 to May 28, 1871. Heavy with political themes and historical accuracy, the 5-hour, 45-minute epic received universal praise.
Arte, La Commune (Paris, 1871) (2000)
Little Dorrit: 5 hours, 50 minutes
Little Dorrit (1987) was an adaptation of the 1857 novel by Charles Dickens, starring Derrick Jacobi, Alec Guinness, and Sarah Pickering in major roles. The two-part epic also starred Miriam Margoyles in a supporting role—she went on to win the LA Critics Choice Award. "Little" in name only, this behemoth lasted 5 hours and 50 minutes.
Sands Films, Little Dorrit (1987)
Karamay: 5 hours, 56 minutes
This largely black-and-white epic is about the 1994 Karamay fire that destroyed the Friendship Theatre in Karamay, Xinjiang, China.
The fire killed 325 people, including 288 schoolchildren. The 1994 epic told the story of the fire, running for 5 hours and 56 minutes.
Huangniutian Productions, Karamay (2010)
The Best Of Youth: 6 hours, 6 minutes
This Italian epic was directed by Marco Tullio Giordana and follows the lives of two brothers from the wealthy Carati family, from the 1960s to the early 2000s.
It was released in 2003 and its runtime of 6 hours and 6 minutes just outpaces War and Peace.
Rai Fiction, The Best of Youth (2003)
War And Peace: 6 hours, 30 minutes
The adaptation of the Soviet novel by Leo Tolstoy was released in cinemas in four separate parts as a miniseries in 1966 and 1967, directed by Sergei Bondarchuk. It was later re-released in 2016 as a TV miniseries on the History Channel.
La Roue: 6 hours, 53 minutes
La Roue was released in 1923 and is another of Abel Glance's silent films. With a runtime of 6 hours and 53 minutes, it featured revolutionary lighting and cutscene techniques for the time of its production.
Films Abel Gance, La Roue (1923)
Napoléon: 7 hours, 5 minutes
Telling the life of Napoléon's early years, Napoléon (1927) is a 7-hour, 5-minute epic that's widely regarded as one of the best historical silent films ever produced. Produced by the French film director, producer, and writer Abel Glance, it was remastered and re-released in France this year.
Films Abel Gance, Napoléon (1927)
Sátántangó (Satan's Tango): 7 hours, 30 minutes
Known as "Satan's Tango" in English, Sátántangó (1994) is a Hungarian drama that depicts life in an isolated and desolate Hungarian village following the collapse of collective farming in Hungary. The film's runtime of 7 hours and 30 minutes did not deter viewers who watched a 2019 4K restoration at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Magyar Televízió, Sátántangó (1994)
Czech Mate:
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In Search Of Jiřì Menzel: 7 hours, 28 minutes
This stunning documentary focuses on the life and work of Jiřì Menzel, a famed Czech film director, while exploring the New Wave Czech and Slovak film industry of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. Czech Mate: In Search of Jiřì Menzel
Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Melancholia: 7 hours, 30 minutes
Lav Diaz doesn't do short films, does he?
Melancholia (2008) is a black-and-white slow drama (I'll say) directed, written, and produced by Lav Diaz. At 7 hours and 30 minutes, it's only his fifth-shortest film ever.
Sine Olivia Pilipinas, Melancholia (2008)
O.J.: Made in America: 7 hours, 43 minutes
Released as both a five-part miniseries and in theaters, O.J: Made in America was produced for ESPN by Ezra Edelman, debuting on ABC in 2016. It explored themes such as race and celebrity and the life of the infamous OJ Simpson.
It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2017 and is the longest film ever to receive an Oscar nomination and win. If you're a fan of true crime, then its 7-hour and 43-minute runtime sounds like the perfect way to spend your whole day.
ESPN Films, O.J: Made in America (2016)
The Works And Days Of Tayoko Shiojiri In The Shotani Basin: 8 hours
The Works and Days of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shotani Basin is a 2020 fiction film describing life in a farming village with a population of only 47 people in the Japanese prefecture of Kyoto. It was shot over 27 weeks across 14 months and inspired by conversations between producers CW Winter, Mai Edstrom, and Tayoko Shiojiri, Edstrom's real-life mother-in-law.
The 8-hour epic is the second feature-length collaboration between Winter and Edstrom after The Anchorage, a 90-minute narrative feature.
Silver Salt Films, The Works and Days. (2020)
A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery: 8 hours, 5 minutes
Another Lav Diaz film (he's populating a lot of this list, isn't he)? sees A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery enter with a run-time of 8 hours and 5 minutes. The sometimes confusing plot of A Lullaby To A Sorrowful Mystery received mixed reviews from critics.
Sine Olivia Pilipinas, A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery (2016)
Dead Souls: 8 hours, 15 minutes
Here's another Wang Bing entry for our list, this time in the form of his 2018 documentary Dead Souls, which documents the testimony of survivors of a hard labor camp in China's Gobi Desert. He shot the movie over 12 years, from 2005 to 2017, visiting more than 150 survivors of two 'reeducation' camps that were set up by the Chinese Communist Party in the late 1950s. The film premiered at Cannes in 2018 and was another huge success for documentary filmmakers, despite its runtime of 8 hours and 15 minutes.
Les Films d’Ici, Dead Souls (2018)
Heremias: 8 hours, 39 minutes
Heremias (2006), officially titled, Heremias, Book One: The Legend of the Lizard Princess, is another entrant from Lav Diaz. This time, it's a crime drama thriller in which:
"a farmer makes a pact with God to save a girl from attack". Its 8-hour 39-minute runtime did not dissuade critics at the Fribourg International Film Festival, who awarded the film the Special Jury Award and nominated it for the Grand Prix Award.
Death In The Land Of The Encantos: 8 hours, 58 minutes
This one tells the tale of a Filipino poet returning to the land of his ancestors after spending years in Kaluga, Russia.
He returns home to find the community destroyed and buried after the last super typhoon hit the Philippines. Another Lav Diaz loooooong film, it explores the heartbreaking aftermath of a natural disaster. At 8 hours and 58 minutes, it has the eighth-longest runtime in movie history.
Sine Olivia, Death in the Land of Encantos (2007)
Tie Qi Xu: West Of The Tracks: 9 hours, 11 minutes
Directed by Wang Bing, Tie Qi Xu: West Of The Tracks was released in 2003 and is a Chinese-language documentary film about the slow decline of Shenyang's industrial district. Once a booming railyard and industrial center, the area has fallen into sharp decline.
The film is broken into three parts: "Rust", "Remnants", and "Rails", each with a different viewpoint of the decline of the area. At 9 hours and 11 minutes, it's rarely shown in full but receives high praise from critics.
Wang Bing Film Workshop, Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2002)
Shoah: 9 hours, 26 minutes
Shoah is a 1985 epic French documentary about The Holocaust, directed by Claude Lanzmann. In the film, Lanzmann travels to German Holocaust sites across Poland where he painstakingly interviews survivors, perpetrators, and witnesses to the events of The Holocaust.
It was released in the United States on PBS over four nights in 1987 but first premiered in New York in 1985, with a total run-time of 9 hours and 26 minutes. "Shoah" is the Hebrew word for The Holocaust.
Evolution Of A Filipino Family: 10 hours, 24 minutes
Evolution Of A Filipino Family (2004) explores the rebirth of a farming clan family in the Philippines during and after the rule of Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos. At 10 hours and 24 minutes long, it's the longest film ever produced, written, edited, and directed by Lav Diaz—who really likes making long films.
Sine Olivia, Evolution Of A Filipino Family (2004)
How Yukong Moved The Mountains: 12 hours, 43 minutes
How Yukong Moved The Mountains is a 12-part documentary film about The Cultural Revolution in China. Shot between 1972 and 1974, it was only released in France in 1976 as a French-language film.
However, the English language release of one part, "The Football Incident", won a 1977 César Award. Its total theatrical runtime is 12 hours and 43 minutes. More popcorn. A whole mountain of it, please.
Capi Films, How Yukong Moved the Mountains (1976)
Out 1: 12 hours, 55 minutes
Out 1 (1971) is a mystery thriller that draws inspiration from Honoré d Balzac's La Comédie humaine. Out 1 is broken down into 90-100 minute parts and is 12 hours and 55 minutes long. The movie follows a parallel narrative structure, where characters and plot lines are loosely related to each other.
It was re-released in France in 2015.
Sunchild Productions, Out 1 (1971)
La Flor (The Flower): 13 hours, 23 minutes
Director Mariano Llinás released the longest film ever in the history of Argentinian cinema in 2018. La Flor is broken into six separate episodes in the following (rather confusing) fashion: The first four episodes have definite beginnings, but finish in the middle, whereas the fifth episode is a continuous silent remake of Jean Renoir's Partie de Campagne (A Day In The Country) (1946), and the sixth and final episode tells the story of an English woman living in the Americas during the 19th century.
Its total run-time is 13 hours and 23 minutes.
El Pampero Cine, La Flor (2018)
Resan (The Journey): 14 hours, 33 minutes
Created over two years from 1983 to 1985, Peter Watkins' Resan (Swedish for "The Journey") is a documentary about public perceptions surrounding issues of nuclear weapons, military spending, and poverty. With 14 hours and 33 minutes runtime, Resan is the longest non-experimental film ever produced. It was released in 1987.
Have you seen any of these great epics? Let us know which you could sit through in the comments below!
Tyresö u-lands och fredsförening, Resan (The Journey) (1987)