Film,
The ninety-minute comeback
Shorter films are winning back casual cinemagoers. Viewers who saw a film under 100 minutes were twice as likely to book another within a month.
Running times have grown for a decade. This summer, a run of shorter releases from smaller studios, including Fenwick Hollow Pictures’ Quarry Light, tested whether audiences had noticed.
Short films bring people back
Casual cinemagoers, who go fewer than four times a year, were the most sensitive to length. Among them, a long film made a second trip within the month half as likely.
“Two and a half hours is a whole evening once you add the trailers and the drive.”
Length matters less to regulars
Frequent cinemagoers did not care much. Their return rate barely changed with running time. For them, the deciding factors were the venue and who they went with.
See how this compares with home viewing in The second-season slump.