It's fair to say that a lot of modern movies are too long. Why does it take two and a half hours to tell a story that could've easily been a tight 90 minutes? However, there are some films that merit a lengthy runtime. These three-hour-long films are sweeping epics whose sheer scope and scale justify the time spent watching them.
These are the 32 greatest movies to be at least three hours long. Many of them are considered some of the best films ever made, with many Best Picture winners in the group. You'll see a lot of biopics on this list, as it can take time to fully tell a complex figure's life story. You'll also see big movies about major historical events, as well as a few genre flicks that are longer than your average blockbuster.
Unlike some of these films, there's no intermission in this list, so let's get started.
32. Pearl Harbor
Year: 2001
Director: Michael Bay
December 7, 1941, is a day that will live in infamy, but although Michael Bay's romantic war epic Pearl Harbor isn't critically beloved, it's might not be deserving of an infamous reputation of its own. A clear attempt to follow another three-hour epic's (Titanic) wake, Pearl Harbor focuses on a love triangle between two best friends-turned-combat pilots (Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett) and a nurse (Kate Beckinsale) in the lead-up to the Japanese surprise attack that thrust America into the war. It's not nearly as effective as James Cameron's Titanic (Michael Bay is a very different sort of filmmaker than Cameron), but it's an enjoyable historical romp that does feature an undeniably thrilling action sequence when the attack finally happens.
31. Zack Snyder's Justice League
Year: 2021
Director: Zack Snyder
It's frustrating that the long-demanded director's cut of Justice League is actually pretty good. When Zack Snyder left the Justice League movie following a family tragedy, Joss Whedon came in to finish the movie, and the end result was pretty bad and not what Snyder's vision would have been. He finally got the chance to showcase his version of the superhero movie in 2021, and the four-hour-long film is a lot, but there's something deeply engrossing about just letting Snyder's distinct aesthetic and vibe wash over you for so long. If you want to see Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Co. fight an alien invader, this is the superior option, despite being twice as long as the 2017 theatrical version. (Or maybe the length is exactly why it's superior.)
30. Grindhouse
Year: 2007
Directors: Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino
Frequent collaborators Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino partnered up for this glorious, gory ode to the exploitation cinema of the '70s. A double feature of two films, Rodriguez's zombie horror comedy Planet Terror and Tarantino's stunt driver thriller Death Proof, Grindhouse also boasted fake trailers, deliberately distressed and scratched film, and all sorts of other clever little tricks that made audiences feel like they were stepping back in time to a much grungier and grimy era of cinema.
29. RRR
Year: 2022
Director: S. S. Rajamouli
This Telugu-language action extravaganza is nominally the story of Indian revolutionaries Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju (N. T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan), two historical figures who fought against colonial rule. It is anything but a straightforward historical drama, though, as RRR is packed with over-the-top fights and absurd action scenes as it reimagines Bheem and Raju as two friends with the ultimate bromance who initially find themselves on opposite sides of an epic struggle. They also dance, and "Naatu Naatu" won the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 95th Academy Awards.
28. King Kong
Year: 2005
Director: Peter Jackson
Fresh off his Lord of the Rings trilogy (three movies that have hefty runtimes themselves), Peter Jackson decided to remake one of the greatest creature features in cinema history, blowing up the 1933 classic King Kong into a 3-hour epic. Naomi Watts, Jack Black, and Adrien Brody star in the movie, which boasts exciting gorilla vs dinosaur fights, some stunning visuals, and intense action. The best use of its runtime, though, is not the thrills but the romance—or at least what passes for it. Jackson's King Kong works hard to actually forge a relationship between Ann Darrow (Watts) and the Eighth Wonder of the World.
27. Kwaidan
Year: 1964
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Kwaidan, which roughly translates to "ghost story," is an anthology collecting four different tales all inspired by Japanese folklore, including a woodcutter who falls for an ice spirit yuki-onna and a blind musician who learns he's been playing music for a ghostly court. The tales are not exactly thrilling,you can see each "twist" coming from a ways away, and they take their time getting to the spooky "reveal". However, Kwaidan is made with such incredible artistry that it's easy to be swept away and to simply bask in its visuals and patient storytelling.
26. The Right Stuff
Year: 1983
Director: Philip Kaufman
An adaptation of Tom Wolfe's book of the same name, The Right Stuff, tells the story of how America's space program began. Over the course of its lengthy runtime, we see how daredevil test pilots soon become astronauts as the country springs into action (launching people into the unknown) as the Space Race begins. Chuck Yeager and the Mercury Seven are all featured in the movie, which stars Sam Shepard, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Fred Ward, Dennis Quaid, and more.
25. Avatar: The Way of Water
Year: 2022
Director: James Cameron
There was a lot of pressure on Avatar: The Way of Water, as it was the follow-up to one of the best sci-fi movies, as well as what was once the highest-grossing film of all time. Naturally, James "Big Jim" Cameron delivered. Returning audiences to the gloriously rendered, 3D moon of Pandora, The Way of Water has human-turned-Na'vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) defending his new home and his family from invading Earth marines, taking to Pandora's lush oceans in the process. Taking a dip in Pandora's waters is so refreshing that you'll wish the movie were longer than it already is.
24. Hamlet
Year: 1996
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Despite updating the setting from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, Kenneth Branagh is otherwise extremely faithful to William Shakespeare's classic play, more so than any other movie adaptation before it, as the 1996 film was the first unabridged theatrical film version of the play. The script, by virtue of being The Bard's original words verbatim, is great, of course, but Hamlet's real strengths are the incredible production design that makes the old play feel more vibrant than ever. In addition to directing, Branagh also stars as the title character.
23. Avengers: Endgame
Year: 2019
Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo
In retrospect, maybe Avengers: Endgame should've been the finale of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It certainly felt like a fitting one, a superhero epic that travelled back into a decade of the franchise's past and brought fan favorites together for a final stand against Thanos, the alien conqueror who had erased half of all life in the universe with a snap of his Infinity Gauntlet. There is so much going on in Endgame, the culmination of more than 20 movies in the blockbuster franchise, and it's pretty remarkable that it all works as well as it does.
22. JFK
Year: 1991
Director: Oliver Stone
Don't mistake JFK for a lengthy documentary; Oliver Stone's complex, enthralling cinematic investigation of the supposed John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy takes some big liberties. Starring Kevin Costner as New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison, a prosecutor who tried to uncover the "real" story, JFK is a dense, extremely engaging legal drama with big ideas and big stakes. Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones, Laurie Metcalf, and Gary Oldman also star.
21. Reds
Year: 1981
Director: Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty wrote, produced, directed, and starred in this sweeping biopic that follows the life of American journalist John Reed, who became famous for documenting Russia's October Revolution. The film follows Reed (Beatty) and his tumultuous relationship with Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton) as the two try to reconcile their lives with their desire to be part of the revolution and fight for the communist cause, a noble one. However, Reed's dedication might not be rewarded.
20. A Touch of Zen
Year: 1970
Director: King Hu
Originally released in two parts, with the first premiering in 1970 and the second the following year, A Touch of Zen is a foundational film in the wuxia genre. The plot isn't especially complex; a scholar in Ming China meets a young woman who is a fugitive avoiding the corrupt Eunuch We, and he joins forces with her (and the powerful Buddhist monk who took the woman into his protection) to fight back. Where A Touch of Zen differentiates itself (and cements its legacy) is in the innovative, boundary-pushing ways it choreographed the fights, as well as its nuanced, thoughtful examinations of violence, feminism, and Buddhist philosophy.
19. Blue Is the Warmest Color
Year: 2013
Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos star in this controversial but acclaimed film, which follows a young woman, Adèle (Exarchopoulos), as she begins a lesbian relationship with an older painter, Emma (Seydoux), when she's still in high school. As she grows into adulthood, the pair's romance and relationship dynamic changes. Blue is the Warmest Color is a complex, ambitious, and explicit movie about coming out—and coming into one's own, with all the messiness that entails.
18. The Brutalist
Year: 2024
Director: Brady Corbet
An Oscar-winning Adrien Brody stars as Hungarian architect László Tóth in this epic deconstruction of the American dream. The massive film follows Tóth after he escapes the Holocaust and arrives in America, where he eventually meets wealthy industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce). Though Van Buren is eager to fund Tóth's design genius, their relationship is a complex one, and it exposes many of the inherent conflicts between creatives and their patrons, not to mention a whole host of ugly truths about the United States.
17. Oppenheimer
Year: 2023
Director: Christopher Nolan
There's no #Barbenheimer reunion here; Barbie, which came out the same weekend as Oppenheimer, is a hair under two hours in length. But the other half of that box office sensation, Christopher Nolan's epic biopic, runs three full hours as it tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Following Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) from his time as a student through his tenure leading the development of the atomic bomb and the Manhattan Project before finally dealing with the fallout, the movie is extremely watchable while also having the gravitas you'd hope for when dramatizing such a consequential historical event.
16. Spartacus
Year: 1960
Director: Stanley Kubrick
The famous scene has dozens of people shouting "I am Spartacus," but it was Kirk Douglas who played the slave-turned-gladiator-turned rebel leader in Stanley Kubrick's swords and sandals epic. An extravagant motion picture that spares no expense in bringing a vision of ancient Rome to life, Spartacus is a love story, war epic, and exhilarating action movie. Pretty much every trope involving gladiators can be found in Spartacus, and in no other movie have they been done better.
15. The Wolf of Wall Street
Year: 2013
Director: Martin Scorsese
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as criminal stockbroker Jordan Belfort, who rose from nothing to absurd and unethical levels of wealth thanks to fraud and corruption before it all came crashing down. As directed by Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street is a gripping white-collar riff on Goodfellas, one that pulls no punches in how it showcases the capitalistic urge. The Wolf of Wall Street is also, it should be noted, very, very funny. DiCaprio is one of our great actors; this film reveals he's also one of our great physical comedians.
14. Babylon
Year: 2022
Director: Damien Chazelle
A truly unhinged movie in the best kind of way, Damien Chazelle's Babylon sets its sights on Hollywood in the late '20s, just as the silent era is about to give way to talkies. Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, and Diego Calva star as an established actor, rising star, and aspiring producer, respectively, in this outrageous movie that starts with an elephant pooping and ends with a montage featuring a Na'vi from Avatar. (Yes, really, and it all makes sense, mostly, in context.) Movies are so good!
13. Killers of the Flower Moon
Year: 2023
Director: Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese offers an unflinching look at America's original sin in Killers of the Flower Moon, an adaptation of David Grann's non-fiction book of the same name. In the 1920s, the Osage Native Americans were fabulously wealthy because their lands sat on vast oil reserves, which led to the whites of the area embarking on an orchestrated campaign of murders in an effort to inherit the rights themselves. Eventually—and far too late—the newly formed FBI would arrest the ringleader, but Killers of the Flower Moon isn't about lawmen cracking the case; it's about a fundamental ugliness in the nation's history.
12. The Last Emperor
Year: 1987
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
One of the greatest biopics ever made, and certainly one of the best that follows its subject basically from cradle to grave, Bernardo Bertolucci tells the life and times of Puyi, the last Emperor of China. Beginning with Puyi's experience as a young child inside the walls of the Forbidden City and following him as he grows up in a rapidly changing world that has the onetime Son of Heaven in a Communist re-education camp, The Last Emperor is a beautiful movie about the tides of history.
11. A Brighter Summer Day
Year: 1991
Director: Edward Yang
This Taiwanese coming-of-age drama is widely regarded as one of the best films ever made (as is another one of director Edward Yang's films, though Yi Yi is just under 3 hours long and therefore not on this specific list). A Brighter Summer Day follows a young boy from a respectable middle-class home in the 1950s who nonetheless becomes a juvenile delinquent. An immaculately made exploration of adolescence, maturity, and society's role in shaping who people become, A Brighter Summer Day is worthy of the accolades.
10. Gone With the Wind
Year: 1939
Director: Victor Fleming
Gone With the Wind's glorification of the Antebellum South is problematic in all the ways you'd imagine it to be, but it's still an astounding piece of filmmaking; an exciting, highly watchable epic that is a deservedly iconic piece of film history. Following Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) as she navigates the Reconstruction Era and a tumultuous relationship with Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), Gone With the Wind is a masterpiece, and Gable's closing line is perhaps the greatest quote in film history.
9. O.J.: Made in America
Year: 2017
Director: Ezra Edelman
With a runtime of nearly 8 hours, O.J.: Made in America is the longest movie on this list and the longest film to ever win an Oscar. (The Academy changed the rules to prevent multi-part series from being eligible in the future.) You can make a credible case that Made in America is really more of a TV show than a film, but the way it tells the story of O.J. Simpson's rise to stardom, the murder trial that captivated a nation, and the historical context that made it such a telling flashpoint for race in America, is enthralling. If given the chance, you'd sit in a theater for the entire runtime without wanting a break.
8. Seven Samurai
Year: 1954
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa's most famous movie is one of the best and most influential films of all time, as you can see shades of Seven Samurai in countless Westerns or any movie where a scrappy bunch of disparate heroes must rally together to defend the helpless. When a village is threatened by bandits, they gather their meager resources to hire help, eventually retaining the services of seven warriors. A significant chunk of the film is spent getting the team together; another explores each of their personalities as they prepare for the defense to come, and it all climaxes in an action sequence that's still thrilling today.
7. Malcolm X
Year: 1992
Director: Spike Lee
Denzel Washington stars as civil rights and Black activist Malcolm X in one of the greatest biopics ever made. Following Malcolm from his childhood in Nebraska to his conversion to Islam and pilgrimage to Mecca, and ending with his assassination in 1965, Malcolm X is a thorough biopic that uses its runtime to paint a full picture of this complex historical figure. Washington, one of the greatest actors of all time, delivers one of his greatest performances in the lead role, which certainly helps.
6. Schindler's List
Year: 1993
Director: Steven Spielberg
If you're reading this and you haven't yet seen Schindler's List, perhaps putting it off because of the long runtime or some sense that a black and white movie about the Holocaust will feel like "homework," please don't. Schindler's List came out the same year as Steven Spielberg released Jurassic Park, and while the former film is not popcorn fare, Spielberg brings his mastery of cinema to it all the same, delivering a thoroughly engaging—if still brutally effective—story from one of history's darkest chapters. Liam Neeson stars as Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who ended up working to save thousands of Polish Jews.
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Year: 2003
Director: Peter Jackson
The non-extended editions of the first two Lord of the Rings movies are each a little bit less than three hours long. If that weren't the case, every film in the landmark fantasy trilogy would be on this list. The Return of the King will have to be the ringbearer for the series as a whole. You might have some quibbles with the number of endings The Return of the King has, but it's a triumphant, exciting, and emotional conclusion of Frodo's quest to take the Ring of Power to the fires of Mount Doom and destroy the ultimate evil of Middle-earth. Several of the greatest moments from the trilogy—including arguably the best scene in any fantasy movie ever made—are from Return.
4. The Godfather Part II
Year: 1974
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
The Godfather Part II is widely considered to be the single greatest film ever made. The conclusion to Francis Ford Coppola's crime epic (that also serves as a prequel, thanks to flashback scenes detailing how Robert De Niro's Vito Corleone came to power), The Godfather Part II goes beyond being an exceptional gangster movie. It's speaking to something much bigger; a masterpiece of cinema that shows the limits of family in the overwhelming corrosive force of American capitalism.
3. Titanic
Year: 1997
Director: James Cameron
It makes sense that a movie about the sinking of what was then the largest ship in the world would also be one of the biggest movies of all time, both in terms of Titanic's record-setting box office and its substantial runtime. James Cameron's blockbuster historical epic uses every minute, though. It's an earnestly moving romance movie about Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet's star-crossed lovers, and a thrilling, high-stakes disaster movie when the ship hits the iceberg.
2. Ben-Hur
Year: 1959
Director: William Wyler
Charlton Heston stars as Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince living under the Roman Empire in Jerusalem who is betrayed by a former friend and sentenced to slave labor in the galley of a Roman warship. When he manages to escape, it sets him on a course for revenge, culminating in a 9-minute-long chariot race that remains one of (if not the) most incredible filmed sequences of all time. Ben-Hur is a true epic; a movie masterpiece that showcases the best the medium can do.
1. Lawrence of Arabia
Year: 1962
Director: David Lean
Lawrence of Arabia could go at or near the top of so many different lists. Greatest biopic? The best war movie? The greatest historical movie? Movies with the best score? Take your pick. It's only natural, then, that this sweeping drama about British officer T. E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) and his role in the Arab resistance against the Ottoman Empire in World War I would rank high on a list of movies that are three or more hours long. Lawrence of Arabia is indeed long, nearly four hours total, but just about every frame is some of the most gorgeous, impressive filmmaking you'll ever see.
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