Longer Movies = Longer Lives? Experts Say Yes!

r ≈ 48% positive

Life Expectancy vs Average Runtime of Top 10 Grossing Movies

Life expectancy and average movie runtimes are both climbing. We're literally evolving to sit through 3-hour Marvel movies. Survival of the most patient.

How we paired this data

Stupid Correlations scans hundreds of public time-series datasets and surfaces pairings whose Pearson correlation crosses a comically high threshold. Life Expectancy and Average Runtime of Top 10 Grossing Movies hit r ≈ 48% (positive) over the years they overlap — the algorithm flagged it, and we kept it because the headline practically wrote itself.

Crucially, no causal model was tested, no covariates were controlled for, and no peer reviewer was consulted. This is the statistical equivalent of finding two people with the same birthday at a wedding and writing a paper about destiny. Real research adjusts for confounders; we adjust the caption for laughs.

If the chart makes you suspicious of the next data-driven headline you read, the page has done its job.

This correlation belongs on a wall, a mug, or a t-shirt. Pick your poison:

Share the nonsense

Generate your own

Download the Stupid Correlations app to discover thousands of absurd correlations on demand.