The 5 Longest Movies Ever Made: #1 Takes Over 35 Days To Watch
The recent lengthening of movies has sparked discussion among cinema lovers. There’s no hiding that movie times, on average, have been creeping up for the past two decades. The release of Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), which ran 3 hours and 26 minutes, even sparked debate about the potential need to bring back intermissions at movie theaters. The debate and sometimes criticism of movie runtimes is only likely to continue as rumors swirl that Avengers: Doomsday (2026) is planning a nearly 4-hour runtime.
However, Killers of the Flower Moon and Avengers: Doomsday are a walk in the park compared to the longest movies ever made. Multiple experimental films have run for not just hours, but literal days. Use our guide to find out how to watch the five longest movies ever… if you dare.
120 hours
Untitled #125 (Hickory), directed by artist Josh Azzarella, is the fifth-longest movie ever produced. The experimental film is based on The Wizard of Oz (1939) and essentially stretches out a single scene over days. It takes the 6-minute-and-30-second scene of when Dorothy (Judy Garland) gets caught in the tornado to when she meets Glinda (Billie Burke) and turns it into a 120-hour, or five-day, movie.
Untitled #125 (Hickory) offers a unique experience. Azzarella captures his vision of every second of Dorothy’s journey to Oz, and the result is intriguing. The visuals, music, and Wizard of Oz influence make for quite the mindbending experience. Although there isn’t much in terms of plot, you may like Untitled #125 (Hickory) for its artful and ambitious interpretation of Dorothy’s journey.
150 hours
Beijing 2003 is an experimental documentary from artist and filmmaker Ai Weiwei. It offers one of the purest looks at urban life, featuring hours of street footage captured around Beijing. The film’s runtime comes in at 150 hours, or about six days and six hours, and features no dialogue or soundtrack. It is simply composed of long, uninterrupted shots of the streets of Beijing, mostly capturing daily traffic and pedestrian commutes.
Much of the footage was captured from a moving car, which traveled 2,400 kilometers. The result is a breathtaking, unfiltered look at the city. It’s an interesting watch that captures the impact of urbanization on Beijing. However, it could also be interesting to anyone who loves travel or wants to feel as if they are really riding through the streets of Beijing, enjoying it all through a strikingly simple, realistic lens.
156 hours
Cinématon is a French experimental film directed by Gérard Courant. Courant spent a significant amount of time on the film, which he composed from 1978 to 2009, totaling 151 hours, or six days and seven hours. It is a compilation of vignettes, or cinématons, each featuring someone doing whatever they please for 3 minutes and 25 seconds. Courant compiled a total of 3,111 vignettes, featuring people ranging from directors like Jean Luc-Godard to chess grandmasters like Joël Lautier to a seven-month-old baby.
I believe Cinématon is one of the most watchable movies on this list. It may get a bit tedious, but it would be a worthwhile endeavor to work your way through the thousands of vignettes. It’s an interesting study of human nature, each vignette serving as a slice of life that gives insight into what each individual chooses to do in the 3 minutes and 25 seconds allotted.
240 hours
Modern Times Forever is a Danish experimental documentary created by the artist group known as Superflex. It tracks the gradual decay of the Stora Enso Building, located in Helsinki, Finland. Given that the building is only 65 years old, Modern Times Forever doesn’t track the building’s actual decay but imagines how it would decay over the next several thousand years, compacting the years into a 240-hour, or 10-day, film.
Modern Times Forever may be a cathartic experience for those familiar with the building. The building, dubbed the “Sugar Cube” for its simple, plain style, stirred controversy upon its construction, with many residents considering it an eyesore for the way it clashes with the surrounding architecture. Perhaps, some viewers will find comfort in watching the building decay. Even if you’re not familiar with the building, you’ll likely find Modern Times Forever a sobering look at decay and urbanization.
857 hours
Logistics, an experimental documentary created by Erika Magnusson and Daniel Andersson, is the longest film ever made. At 857 hours, the film takes 35 days and 17 hours to watch in its entirety. It tracks the life span of a pedometer, traveling backward from the point of sale to the very beginning of the pedometer’s manufacturing. It was filmed in real-time, as the filmmakers traveled from Sweden, where the pedometer was sold, all the way to China, where it was first manufactured, with plenty of stops along the way.
Logistics is a pretty awe-inspiring documentary. It captures the cost, time, and energy that go into producing a single piece of technology, which are often ignored when it’s quickly swept up in consumerism. If you want to know where technology really comes from, or if you are looking for something to do for a month, Logistics is a great watch.
