Plan a movie marathon run time.
Marathon length is the sum of runtimes plus the gaps between them, and both of the additions people forget are material. Credits run six to twelve minutes on modern blockbusters, and a franchise with post-credit scenes means watching them. Breaks apply between films rather than after each one, so four films take three breaks, not four. Together those add well over an hour to a four-film evening, which is the difference between finishing before midnight and not.
Movie marathon run time
Total minutes = films x (runtime + credits) + (films - 1) x break; finish = start time + total, wrapped at 24 hours
Three films, around seven hours with breaks, is what most groups complete attentively. Beyond about ten hours attention collapses regardless of enthusiasm, which is why extended-edition trilogies are usually split across days.
Ten to fifteen minutes between films, with one longer meal break if the marathon runs past five hours. Shorter than ten and people miss the opening; longer than twenty and the momentum goes.
Yes — it wraps at 24 hours, so a marathon starting at 18:00 and running eight hours correctly reports 02:00 rather than 26:00.