10 Longest Films Ever Released

Since the moving picture was first invented in the 1890s people have been paying to go and see films. While the average length of a film these days is around 130 minutes (2 hours and 10 minutes) there are movies that are over 10 times that length! Starting at 10 and counting down to number 1 this article will list the top 10 films that have earned the title of longest ever films to be made. Grab your popcorn and enjoy!

24 Hour Psycho comes in at number 10 with a run time of exactly 24 hours (1 whole day.

Made by artist Douglas Gordon and released in the United Kingdom in 1993, this film was an appropriation of the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho. Instead of being shown at its original 24 frames per second, it was slowed down to 2 frames per second. Thus turning the original 109 minute runtime into a runtime of exactly 24 hours.

Four Star is a film released by Andy Warhol in the United States 1967 and has a runtime of 1500 minutes (25 hours).

This film documents factory life during this time period and is completely un-edited. The only type of editing in any way is by what is called "strobe cuts". A strobe cut is when the camera is turned on and off during shooting. This film has only ever been shown in its full length only once, and at Andy Warhol's request, two reels were screen simultaneously over one another rather than next to each other. This meant that the audience had to differentiate between not only two different images but two different sets of audio too.

The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple was made by Zhang Shichuan and was released in 16 parts between 1928 - 1931. This film, released in China, has a total runtime of 1620 minutes (27 hours).

This film was an adaptation of the novel The Tale of the Extraordinary Swordsman. Sadly, no copies of this film have survived to this day.

The Longest Most Meaningless Movie in the World was a movie made by Vincent Patouillard and Anthony Scott and was released in the United Kingdom in 1968.

This film has a run time of 48 hours (2 days). No footage was recorded for this film. Instead, it is an amalgamation of other footage from newsreels and stock footage. It is mostly comprised of outtakes, commercials and strips of previously undeveloped film.

The Cure For Insomnia is a film made by John Henry Timmis IV, it was released in the USA in 1987. It has a run time of 87 hours (3 days and 15 hours).

This film has no plot, instead, it is comprised of the artist L. D. Groban reading his poem "A Cure for Insomnia" (which was 4,080 pages long) over 3 and half days, with occasional footage of heavy metal and 'dirty' films being spliced in randomly.

Matrjoschka is a film made by Karin Hoerler and was released in Germany in 2006. It has a run time of 95 hours (3 days and 23 hours).

This film has no sound or plot. Instead, it is based on one single photographic image that slowly changes into another, the change is so slow that the audience does not notice the change. The photograph shows a boy riding a bicycle, a street, houses, garages, and the sky. There was a public outdoors showing of this film in Frankfurt, Germany. It started on April 23, 2006, at 6:00am and finished on April 28, 2006, at 1:00am. At night time there was a break from 1:00am to 6:00am to allow people to sleep.

Untitled #125 (Hickory) is a film made by Josh Azzarella between 2009-2011. Its runtime is 120 hours (5 days).

The film took inspiration from a 6 minute and 30-second section in the movie The Wizard of Oz, from the moment the viewer first sees the tornado that takes Dorothy to Oz until Dorothy meets Glinda the Good Witch and the Munchkins. The film has the intent of extending Dorothy's journey to Oz to envelop what the Josh Azzarella believed is the entire time of Dorothy's experience.

Beijing 2003 is one of a four-part documentary made by Ai Weiwei, released in China in 2004. This film has a run time of 150 hours (6 days and 6 hours).

The focus of this documentary was social and political activism. It is made up of long shots showing the city of Beijing from the point of view of a passenger in a car. During production, 2,400 kilometres (1491 miles) of road were travelled throughout Beijing.

Modern Times Forever is a film made by a Danish artists' group called Superflex, it was released in Denmark, Finland and Vietnam in 2011. It has a run time of 240 hours (10 days).

The film shows how a projected future of how the Helsinki Stora Enso headquarters building might decay over the next few thousand years. The film was originally projected against the Stora Enso building itself.

Logistics is a film made by Erika Magnusson and Daniel Andersson, and was released in Sweden in 2012. It has a runtime of 857 hours (35 days and 17 hours).

The film shows the story of the production of a pedometer in reverse chronological order, starting at end sales and going back to its manufacture. The film was shot in real time and follows the journey of the pedometer from a shop in Stockholm (Sweden), then proceeded through Insjön, Gothenburg, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Algeciras, Málaga, and finished in Shenzhen at the manufacturer in Bao'an (China).

Thank you for reading this article! I hope you have enjoyed it. Perhaps next time you are struggling to get to sleep you could watch a version of The Cure For Insomnia, or if you are interested in mechanical manufacture you can watch some of the highlights from Logistics. If you have seen even just any parts of any of these films, please do comment below with your opinions (and whether or not you were able to sit through the whole thing).