Feature length film at the cinema

[24HoursFromTulseHill]

What age could your child sit through a feature length film at the cinema?

DS is 3.5 and we visit our local cinema for the toddler films (Julia Donaldson adaptations or 3 episodes of Pip & Posy) but they last for 20 - 40 mins, which seems to be his limit.

At home, we watch some U rated films in two sittings over the weekend but again it's around 45 mins on each day.

I was wondering at what age your children had the attention span to sit through a 90 min film at the cinema. I'm not expecting him to be able to do that now, but it would be nice to know how soon we can go see a 'proper film together at the cinema.

He was around 4 and a half, we went to see the Paw Patrol movie which he sat through really nicely. He was at school at that point so I think he was more used to sitting still for periods of time.

My 4YO has liked Gabby’s Dolllhouse and Zootropolis 2 recently. He wouldn’t sit through even 20 minutes of Julia Donaldson, which seems fair enough to me, I’m not convinced even I’d last that long. They’re very slow. Maybe try something more exciting?

About a month before his 4th birthday was the first time we went with our youngest and he bloody loved it!

Depends on the kid I guess? I have a friend whose child has just turned 3 and has been watching full length films for ages. I have a nearly four year old and we tend to do a full length film over two days.

I think he was nearly 5 for a full movie. He'd stayed through an hour or so before that though. Depends on the movie really.

My 7 year old finds going to the cinema boring. I think 3 is very young still. I can just about get him through one of the 1 hour special showings (we went to the Bluey one this year) with lots of treats. I wouldn’t expect them to properly enjoy it until maybe 8/9/10. My 12 year old has the attention span of a gnat 😂 but she does enjoy the cinema, but I’d say it’s only really been in the last 2-3 years or so.

Totally depends on the child. One of mine could from 4, the other one not until 7! She just got
bored at everything.

My eldest DD was 2y3m at the time and we watched peppa pig episodes as a small film. Did the same with my youngest DD this year she was 2y7m - peppa pig episodes again. It does all depend on the child. I would only take them young to cheap films so it wasn't a waste of money. Eldest is now 8 and youngest is 3 and they cope quite well but I think it also depends on the film.

Depends entirely on interest level

in my experience kids can sit through whatever they are crazy about from about 3.

Recently took a 3 year old to see the gabby’s dollshouse movie- loved it because she loves Gabby- sat through it beautifully even though she is usually high energy and busy. The peppa pig baby Evie film was also absolutely fine too, because she knew the series.

I wouldn’t take a child to see the latest random ‘kids film’ until closer to 5 though.

For my son - we tried at 3, and he did last the whole time, but he didn't really enjoy it, and wasn't that positive about it after.

Tried again at 4 and a half, and he had a great time.

Thanks for sharing all of your experiences.

He likes the experience of going to the cinema for the toddler films, so I try to take him about once a month to keep him familiar with the environment but I can see he gets restless after 45 mins.

Even watching U rated films at home we always have to pause them around this time because he's started to get fidgety, even if it's a film he's enjoying or has asked to see (he begged to watch Lilo & Stitch and then wandered off to play with his trains).

I think I'll hold out on buying us longer length film tickets until the summer, to see if his capacity for sitting still for that long has increased.

I might renew my cinema membership and use some of the free tickets as a test run.

Going to the cinema is one of the things I miss most from my pre-child days, so I'm really hoping we can watch full length films together when he's ready, even if it's still U's and PG's for quite a few more years.

My dd was around 3 when she could watch a 90 min film comfortably. Ds was around 5.

Dd was 3.5 when she went to her first film at the cinema: Mighty Pups. Luckily, we were the only ones there as she spent the whole time running around and switching chairs (obviously, if there had been anyone else there we’d have gone out). She went with nursery the next month and sat perfectly.