Entertainment
We Could Save Movie Theaters If Studios Just Did One Simple Thing
By Robert Scucci
| Updated
I’m probably dating myself here, but does anybody else remember when a three-hour movie coming out felt like a cultural event? James Cameron’s Titanic was so long, 3 hours and 14 minutes to be precise, that it was sold for home viewing on double VHS sets. It was a cultural phenomenon, costing $200 million to produce and earning over $2.2 billion at the box office. But it was also the exception, not the rule, when it came to cost and scale of storytelling.
These days, ever since the MCU and DCEU became the cultural juggernauts that they are, movies have gotten longer and exponentially more expensive, which makes me wonder why studios stopped putting out 90-minute movies with budgets at or around $50 million. When you look at the box office returns for so many doomed projects, they tend to have two things in common: they’re too long, and they cost too much to make.
Don’t believe me? I brought receipts.
Make Them Cheaper And Shorter!
While I’m not totally averse to long movies, I’ve always been a strong advocate for the 90-minute runtime. It’s a simple three-act structure that lets filmmakers tell a complete story. They’re also cheaper to make, and you can have more movies in rotation at your local theater on any given day. A three-hour movie occupying multiple screens cuts into revenue potential because we’re putting all of our eggs in one basket.
2024’s The Flash cost $220 million to make and runs 144 minutes. It earned $271.4 million at the box office. That might seem like it at least broke even and secured a small profit, but it didn’t. Factor in marketing and distribution, and it’s a box office failure.
2025’s Weapons cost $38 million to produce, with a runtime of 128 minutes. Still a little long for my taste, but it earned $270 million, almost exactly the same as The Flash, for a fraction of the cost. That’s a financial success.
Of course, there are other variables at play. Superhero fatigue had fully set in by 2024, while a strong horror flick from a rising filmmaker is usually a reliable moneymaker. But the core takeaway still stands. The longer, more expensive movie performed worse than the shorter, cheaper one.
2024’s Joker: Folie a Deux cost $200 million and runs 138 minutes. It earned $208 million, barely recouping its production budget. That’s a failure. Compare that to 2019’s Joker, which cost just $70 million, runs just over two hours, and earned over a billion dollars. The pattern is hard to ignore.
Let’s push it further. 2025’s Anaconda runs 99 minutes, cost $45 million, and brought in $135 million at the box office, earning three times its production budget. If you need more proof, just look up the financials for any movie to come out over the past decade, and tell me what you see.
The John Wick Method Works For Scaling An IP
I’m going to lay out something I’m calling “The John Wick Method,” because it perfectly illustrates the point. I’m not against long films. I’m not against expensive films. But films that are both long and expensive need to earn their keep. Superhero movies learned this the hard way when Marvel and DC kept cranking out epics nobody asked for, forcing them to course correct, reconsider their release schedule, and how much money they’re dumping into projects that don’t necessarily guarantee a return on their investment.
The John Wick franchise, on the other hand, started small and scaled up. The first film topped out at $30 million and earned $86 million. It runs 101 minutes. The concept was proven, audiences wanted more, and the sequel followed with a $40 million budget, a 122-minute runtime, and $174 million in box office receipts. Chapter 3 runs nine minutes longer than Chapter 2, cost $75 million, and earned $327 million, and so on. People wanted John Wick to be bigger and badder, that’s exactly what they got, and the numbers prove that this is the way to properly scale towards a film like Chapter 4, which is nearly three hours long, but doesn’t feel like a total slog to get through. It’s exactly why it earned $447 million against its $100 million budget.
You know what didn’t perform well? 2023’s Napoleon, which had a $200 million budget, barely broke even at $222 million, and comes with a 205-minute director’s cut that hit streaming because the 157-minute version apparently wasn’t punishing enough. Think about how many Anaconda and Weapons-type films we could have cycled through theaters if Ridley Scott didn’t have such a hard-on for historical epics.
This isn’t an indictment of long, expensive movies. But when 2000’s Gladiator was released, it felt like an event, not standard practice. We wanted to see what $103 million looked like on the big screen. And because it was a great movie that fully justified its 155-minute runtime, it felt like a special occasion. That’s why it earned nearly half a billion dollars. It was spectacular, and people wanted to see it again.
We Want Movies, Not Events
When every single film is treated like an event, audiences have to be selective. The last time I went to a regular, non drive-in theater, four tickets, a large popcorn, and a large soda cost me $100. If it’s also going to cost me three hours of my time for a movie that isn’t even good enough to recoup its budget, then why aren’t studios cranking out shorter, cheaper films?
We’ve reached the point where it’s obvious you don’t need hundreds of millions of dollars to make something worth watching. And nobody wants to burn an entire afternoon or evening on something that’s just “meh.” It will deter them from making a night at the movies a regular family outing, especially when you consider how much it costs to go to the movies these days.
The John Wick franchise did it right. It proved demand with a tight runtime, and a relatively inexpensive concept, then scaled up once it was proven that audiences were invested. Unless studios can consistently capture lightning in a bottle like that, it’s time to cut runtimes, cut budgets, and make movies people actually want to sit through instead of self-indulgent endurance tests. Do that, and you’ll see more asses in seats. Suddenly, 10 screens can show 10 different movies. Suddenly, people care about going to the theater again.
Entertainment
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for April 19, 2026
The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you have a sweet tooth.
Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that’s captured the public’s attention. The game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today’s Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications’ Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
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Here’s a hint for today’s Connections categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
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Yellow: Lippy
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Green: Gowns
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Blue: Played in Vegas
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Purple: Sweet treats
Here are today’s Connections categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: Cheeky
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Green: Dress measurements
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Blue: Cards in Texas Hold ‘Em
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Purple: Last words of candy brands in the singular
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections #1043 is…
What is the answer to Connections today
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Cheeky: ARCH, FRESH, SASSY, WISE
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Dress measurements: BUST, HIPS, LENGTH, WAIST
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Cards in Texas Hold ‘Em: FLOP, HOLE, RIVER, TURN
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Last words of candy brands in the singular: CAP, DUD, KID, MINT
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today’s puzzle.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Connections.
Entertainment
NYT Strands hints, answers for April 19, 2026
Today’s NYT Strands hints are easy if you’re constantly changing.
Strands, the New York Times‘ elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There’s always a theme linking every solution, along with the “spangram,” a special, word or phrase that sums up that day’s theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.
By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.
If you’re feeling stuck or just don’t have 10 or more minutes to figure out today’s puzzle, we’ve got all the NYT Strands hints for today’s puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.
NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Small change
The words are related to changes.
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Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained
These words describe fine-tuning.
NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?
Today’s NYT Strands spangram is vertical.
NYT Strands spangram answer today
Today’s spangram is There I Fixed It.
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NYT Strands word list for April 19
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There I Fixed It
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Adjust
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Modify
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Alter
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Improve
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Tweak
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Refine
Looking for other daily online games? Mashable’s Games page has more hints, and if you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now!
Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Strands.
Entertainment
Wordle today: Answer, hints for April 19, 2026
Today’s Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you can never sit down.
If you just want to be told today’s word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
Where did Wordle come from?
Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once.
Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.
What’s the best Wordle starting word?
The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.
What happened to the Wordle archive?
The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.
Is Wordle getting harder?
It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.
Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:
To rise.
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Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?
There are no recurring letters.
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Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…
Today’s Wordle starts with the letter T.
The Wordle answer today is…
Get your last guesses in now, because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.
Drumroll please!
The solution to today’s Wordle is…
STAND
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Wordle.
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