Mission: Impossible 7's epic runtime continues the trend of super-long blockbusters

gamesradar.com:

We finally know Mission: Impossible 7's runtime – and it's set to be the longest film in the franchise yet.

Ahead of the action sequel's release on June 28, IGN has confirmed that the movie is 2 hours and 36 minutes long without credits. In comparison, it's predecessor, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, was 2 hours and 28 minutes total and the installment before that, Rogue Nation, was 2 hours and 11 minutes. 

The series has been steadily increasing each entry's length since the original, which was only 1 hour and 50 minutes, was released in 1996. But the trend isn't exclusive to Mission: Impossible; it seems to apply to most modern blockbusters these days. Just this month, we've seen the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which comes in at 2 hours and 29 minutes, and Fast X, which is 2 hours and 21 minutes.

Those are short, too, compared to Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, which, according to the director, is "kissing three hours". Last year's Avatar: The Way of Water was a whopping 3 hours and 12 minutes.

While its undoubtedly dependent on each title – some lengthy flicks can feel like they whizz by, while other shorter films can often feel like they're dragging – it's hard not to think that movies have become too long in general now. It's also interesting when you look at it from a cinema's perspective. Longer movies mean less showings, essentially, and less opportunity to sell tickets; stricter editing might not only help out our bladders but box-office takings, as well. Then again, it's only really the films that are predestined to do big numbers that are taking risks with their runtimes, ie sequels and others with built-in fanbases.

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