Amid these anxieties over audiences’ dwindling attention spans, Clare Binns, the creative director of Picturehouse Cinemas, and the recipient of this year’s Bafta award for outstanding British contribution to cinema, has called time on a growing trend for ever longer films. At three hours and 35 minutes, The Brutalist (2024) required a 15-minute interval. Avatar: Fire and Ash, now in UK cinemas, is three hours and 17 minutes. Protracted running times are not just painful for audiences but for profits, as cinemas can only have one showing each night. Many independent cinemas across the UK are already struggling, with almost a third facing closure within the next three to five years without investment. As Ms Binns said, it would be a “tragedy” if local cinemas disappeared.