LOS ANGELES - The top three movies at the box office have a combined running time of 8 hours and 11 minutes - but who's counting?
Length seems not to be much of an issue this season. “Les Misérables,†at more than two and half hours (157 minutes, to be exact), took in $12.2 million in domestic ticket sales on Wednesday, according to boxofficemojo.com, for a total of $30.3 million since it opened Christmas Day.
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,†was ahead of “Les Miz†in running time, at 169 minutes, but slightly behind in Wednesday sales, with $11.4 million. That brought its total since opening two weeks ago to almost $180 million.
“Django Unchained,†about four minutes shorter than “The Hobbit,†had about $10 million in sales on Wednesday, for a total of about $25 million since opening on Christmas.
Maybe there's a message in the way these films are playing both long and strong: If you' re going to charge premium prices for movie tickets, you'd better give the people their money's worth.
