10 Amazing Movies Over Three Hours Long

2. The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King

Lord Of The Rings Return Of The King Aragorn
Warner Bros. Pictures

Runtime: 3 hours 21 minutes

A watershed moment for blockbuster cinema, The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King won all eleven Academy Awards it was nominated for - including Best Picture - something unheard of for movies of this scale and genre.

Where the Oscars usually prefer to honour smaller arthouse fare, Return Of The King is a big, exciting movie where an elf murders an elephant with a bow and arrow. The way it blends superb effects, pulse-pounding action and soul-destroying emotion is truly magnificent, and it wholly deserved every single one of those statues that it won.

Because it had to wrap up several stories - Frodo and Sam's quest to destroy the One Ring, Aragorn's rightful kingship - it earns each minute of its huge runtime, and though you could argue that it should have ended 15 minutes sooner, it was important that every major character was given a fitting (sometimes lengthy) conclusion to their tale.

If you want an even longer version, the extended edition adds a bunch of extra scenes, but you're not missing out on anything major by sticking with the regular cut.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.