Everything goes on too long

It’s an impossible question to answer really, as your question actually has three parts:

1. Are things too long nowadays? – some are, yes. (Expanded below)
2. Are there too many adverts before films in cinemas?– yes. But cinemas are struggling to survive, so if we want to keep the experience of cinema we have to suck it up, or as others have suggested, turn up to the film 20 minutes later and skip the adverts.
3. Everyone’s life is too busy to allow for 2 hour + films and theatre productions… - sorry, but that’s ridiculous. Do less and plan better. First off, all plays and films advertise their running time (plays include intervals in those too), so you have no excuse to be sat in a theatre worrying about when it might finish so you can do something else! If you go in to something hoping that it will be quick because you’ve got so much else to do, then you’re very unlikely to enjoy it. Pack in less and enjoy the moment. Somethings deserve more time than other things. Doing more doesn’t mean having a better time. Take your time and enjoy what you are doing without always looking to the next thing.

On your main point, ‘everything goes on too long’, it really depends on what it is doesn’t it? Could the last Lord of the Rings film have ended earlier and had fewer endings? Absolutely. Do the the 3+ hours of the Godfather Part 2 or the nearly 4 hours of Lawrence of Arabia (or numerous other masterpieces) spoil them?– absolutely not they give them the time needed to tell their masterful stories. Equally I’ve sat through films that last just over an hour and seem to last forever in their awfulness.

A 2 hour (plus 20 minute interval) play or musical isn’t long at all. It’s about average. I’ve seen incredible one act plays – but even when magnificent come out feeling slightly short changed – and I’ve seen things that take up most of the day. Was Harry Potter and the Cursed Child too long at well over two hours a part (and in two parts)? Yes. It should have been one (longish) play. But The Inheritance was another two part play (like Harry Potter you could see it over two days, or, on Saturdays, the first part in the day and the second in the evening). I did the back to back Saturday and spent nearly 8 hours in the theatre watching something completely remarkable, utterly mesmeric and, when it ended, I wished it could have gone on longer!

It's like books and sex and meals and walks and relationships and jokes and everything really. Sometimes short and fun can be wonderful; sometimes it deserves time and dedication and attention; and sometimes you just want to give it all the time in the world.

Ads and trailers have been at least 20 minutes for as long as I can remember. As for film lengths, the average is roughly 2 hours and has been since late 90s.

The amount of adverts that were on before Wicked 2 at our Odeon were insane.

Adverts - Trailers (which dont mind) - More adverts - Then adverts for Odeon - another advert - Switch off your phone advert - Wicked

Complaining that films often contain unnecessary scenes = constructive criticism
Complaining films are too long because you're too busy =/= constructive criticism

Entertainment, art and pleasure activities shouldn't be lost to the wayside in the world of "too busy". They are the essential breaks and pauses in "too busy" to allow us to breath. Stop thinking "I could be doing X, Y and Z instead" and start just enjoying the moment

Meetings and trainings being overinflated with course content, lack of useful information and people who like the sound of their own voice is different again

If you don't have 3 hours or whatever to watch a film then don't watch it. The running length isn't kept secret and its easy enough to gauge how long the trailers and ads will last. I like the trailers so I'd definitely not like to see them stopped to appease people who think every activity and every waking minute has to be productive.

Do less things but spend time on doing them to maximise what you get out of them and find more depth to the things you do. Everyone has the same number of hours a day. Don't do more than the day can handle.

Usually the theatres advertise running times of performances unless you go to previews. If it's too long for you, why go?

I went locally this past weekend. Someone complained the play was 1 hour and 40 minutes with no intermission. I don't get it. Stay home then.

Apart from a couple of notable exceptions, films used to be MUCH shorter.

OP, your first example is about capitalism. Adverts are a blight on our time and our experiences of the world, yet we have to put up with them because as a society we've ended up in a place where they pay for everything.

As for the rest... length doesn't determine quality but the trouble is a lot of people think it does. So that leads to the webinar presenters and theatre company erring on the side of bloat to avoid people complaining about not getting value for money.

The flipside is films and shows being edited too ruthlessly and not allowed room to breathe because no one has an attention span any more.

One of the greatest challenges of making art is to produce a film or show or book that's the exact length it needs to be to tell the story properly - whether that's short or long.

I agree. I love getting lost in a long, epic film if it's filled with gorgeous cinematography and settings, or a complex plot. But a silly action film padded out with several unnecessary sequences? Not so much.

YouTube videos can be bad for this too, probably because they need to be a certain length to optimise earnings/ ad revenue. Annoying when the interesting or helpful info can be boiled down to about a quarter of the length.

I don't agree with the OP on the examples of film and theatre. The point about attention spans others have made I agree with.

Where I do think things are too long is the idea of a month to raise awareness/funds, whereas it used to be a day or week, and secondly, extending day events to a week. You have a birthday, not a birthday week, there is not a Valentine's weekend, for example.

New films are always at least half an hour too long for me (exceptions being LOTR). When I was young films were usually 90 mins but there was a short film first. I think 90 mins is perfect and I don’t have ADHD. You can show a perfectly good story in that time. Now directors seem to think you have to pack in lots of unnecessary rubbish so that people don’t mind spending £15 to see it.

One news commentator remarked something along the lines of “Hopefully the draw will be finished in time for the first match to kick off in June,” . 😃

Not ads in my experience. The introductory and short films about the production are very good, but there are usually a couple of half hour intervals to allow for the stage set to be changed. It does make for a very long evening, especially on a weeknight and when the seats are uncomfortable!

Australia will be happy to keep making the ashes matches shorter.

don't moan that there was too much of it then 🙄

The trailers and ads don’t increase the quality, but they do reduce the cost, as advertisers pay for the privilege.

I really hope you enjoy it, but I would not go and see this even if it was shorter.
Avatar—one of my favourite films ever.
The Way Of Water—dull and unnecessary, I wish I could get that time back.
Number three—I’m not bothering. I might watch the original again instead.

But what do you have is choice.

As I’ve got older, I also don’t have the patience for films or theatre - so I don’t go! Instead, I wait for the films to be shown on TV, then I can fast-forward through any parts that are annoying me…

For events that interest me enough to not lose patience halfway through, such as currently, Christmas Light events, I’m able to give these my full attention.

Having walked out of the last couple of stage productions I’ve attended at interval time, I’ve learned not to waste more money on these - let’s face it, they’re not cheap!

See also quiz shows. 30 years ago you probably had a hundred questions in a 30 mins show. Now it's 4 with lots of dramatic pauses.

I've always thought movies & shows are too long. There's always a part in the middle that's boring and drawn out. I wish they could be 20 mins shorter. Even as a child I felt bored halfway through.

Snooker is going on too long that's for sure.

It depends on my mood. Sometimes I spend my life screaming internally "just get on with it!" or "oh, shut up!" while time-consuming formalities are observed. I always scroll on my phone through adverts before a film (not during the film itself), and back in the days of renting video cassettes, I used to rewind them to just after the ads at the beginning, as a petty rebellion. But at other times, I embrace slowness.

Slowness is one reason I almost never watch television: I remember how painfully slow the National Lottery draws were when they were new, and I never understood why, as each number was drawn, the cheers got louder and louder; surely, it should have been the groans getting louder and louder? Perhaps the real sound from the studio was silenced, and a crescendo of cheers was broadcast instead: lots of things on TV are not as they seem.

Some films spend the first half hour setting the scene with characters arguing, before any action happens, so you are in no doubt about how mundane the characters are.

My church choir practice is painfully slow. I wouldn't mind the fine tooth comb approach to learning something new, but it's applied to stuff we have done many times before, with lots of slow waffle in between. Every single year we do a piece with the line "I'm weary with my former toil": never was a truer word spoken. After Christmas I'm taking a few weeks off because I can't stand it any more (and I'm sure they'll plead for me to come back).

You realise length =/= quality, right?