Yes, long movies have often been associated with prestige. But over the last few decades, movies in general have been skewing longer. The top movie in 1992 was Batman Returns, clocking in at two hours and six minutes. That length seems almost economical compared with 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, which was more than three hours long. “When I talk to the businesspeople at Hollywood studios, they all say that they don’t like long movies,†says Vanity Fair’s Natalie Jarvey. “So, what I wanted to know was if everyone agrees that long movies are not as good for business, why are we making so many long movies?†One reason: Audiences are paying to see these longer installments of IP franchises. But also, bidding wars between streamers have made it harder to say no to directors of a certain caliber. “You’ve got all these new buyers who want to make movies with the best of the best because they want people to associate their streaming platform with top-tier movies,†says Jarvey. “We’re in this moment where filmmakers have a lot of power to say, ‘This is my vision, and if you don’t want to make this, I can take it somewhere else.’†Subscribe below and listen to the full episode of Into It to learn whether we might start seeing a swing back toward shorter movies as streamers and studios spend less money overall on TV and film.