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New World Record: Watching 57 Movies in 123 Hours Non-Stop!

by Alex Billington
October 10, 2008
Source: SlashFilm

Suresh Joachim and Claudia Wavra emerged victorious earlier this week from the Netflix World Movie Watching Championships. These two watched a total of 57 movies continuously for 123 hours and 10 minutes, setting the new Guinness World Record for most consecutive hours spent watching movies. Think it's a fan's dream to be able to watch so many movies? Think again! To give you an idea of how insanely grueling this was, they spent five days straight in a plexi-glass box in the middle of Times Square in New York City watching movies non-stop. Joachim is actually an endurance world-champion who holds 32 other world records, including 100 straight hours of dancing. Damn impressive, I must say!

I guess the reason why I wanted to mention this is because I thought I used to be one of those crazy endurance guys who could watch movies endlessly, but I'm nothing compared to these guys. It's less the idea of watching 57 movies that scares me about this, and more that they had to stay awake (sitting in this plexi-glass box) for 123 hours - which equals about 5 days. According to the rules, "competitors could not divert their eyes from the screen, but were allowed 10-minute breaks between movies." The event kicked off with Iron Man and ended with Thelma & Louise, which was personally delivered by Susan Sarandon.

On top of all of that, "each movie had to be viewed until the last credit rolled. The participants were closely monitored by judges and medical professionals who checked their vital signs on a regular basis to ensure they could safely endure the challenge." I know this isn't related to the theatrical experience, but I'm just in awe at this and thought it'd be one of the coolest things we could mention all week. If you love movies as much as I do, just take a moment to think about how many of them you watch in a month. Would you ever consider some sort of movie watching marathon like this? A complete list of movies that they watched can be found at MyFoxNY. I've also included a few more photos of the winners below.

Netflix World Movie Watching Championships

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Matt

Bathroom issues? Did they get to wear special diapers or something?
Darrin

holy crap.
Dan

I've done close to that. I'm pretty sure that I might be able to beat it. Where do I sign up?
Max Russian

they saved on gas
natlynn

Matt - It said they were allowed ten minutes between films, to presumably pee and whatnot...
ha1rball

i can beat it.
Pat

GG
http://www.areyoustucklikechuck.com Jerry Cavallaro

I was actually one of the contestants in this competition. (If you don't believe me, google my name) There was a total of 8 of us. I was the 5th person to drop out. I was bounced from the glass box at 68 hours and 21 minutes, which was about 31.5 films. This is actually an incredibly hard feat to accomplish and I am very proud of both Claudia and Suresh. I didn't think it would be so difficult but it really was rough, especially when you have no choice of the films you are watching. Remember, Claudia and Suresh are both professionals of this type of endurance challenge. This was the 4th time Claudia won this record and it is the 33rd Guinness record that Suresh currently holds. As one of the amateurs/underdogs of the competition, you can trust me when I say that going in and just watching movies will not take you far. You need to exercise, keep your body moving, eat properly and use your 10-minute breaks wisely. With that being said, with the proper training and research, anyone has a chance at breaking this record. I hope to one day get another shot. If any of you have questions about the competition, post them on here or on my website and I'll try to answer you back.

Santosh_k842004

how i can participate in the movie watching competition kindly reply me/ guide me on santosh_k842004@hotmail.com

Pat

there are many ways to play the game, what if you harassssssseed them away?
Conrad

How the hell did they stay awake for five days!
avoidz

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark... Bah, it's "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and nothing else! (Nice world record, too.)
Kaiser

I would have dropped out at the English Patient, ugh I hate that movie
http://movieguyreviews4u.blogspot.com Ryan

I would have been done by THE SOUND OF MUSIC. I wonder who decided upon that list, quite a variety of picks.
http://www.areyoustucklikechuck.com Jerry Cavallaro

The list was created by the people at Netflix. It was meant to show the many different types of films available from Netflix. Each contestant submitted 5 films but not all the suggestions were used. In fact, only one of my films made the list, Clerks. And talking was allowed during the films, so we got through long boring films like The English Patient and The Sound of Music by MST3K'ing it. We also sang during some of the musicals but by the second day, it was more like drunken karaoke.
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

Jerry - Is it really more about the endurance of staying awake? Or is it just as tough to sit through all the movies? I think being bored wouldn't be my problem, it'd be more the idea of staying awake... Or maybe all of the above?
http://www.areyoustucklikechuck.com Jerry Cavallaro

I don’t know about everyone else, but for me it was kind of a mix. Staying awake is definitely the larger part of it though. The hardest part for me was between 2 am and 10 am. I nearly fell asleep the first night but really got my second wind just prior to Richard Simmons’ first visit. The second day was the same thing but after 10 am I again pulled through. Unfortunately, I got out Sunday morning at 8:21 am. If I had made it to 10 am, I might have made it through the day. The worst thing was that I did not fall asleep. I started blinking excessively and then just kept my eyes closed. I actually opened them and was watching the film, unaware that my eyes were closed for so long, and was awake but tired when they pulled me out. However, being bored with the film is also a problem. When watching films back to back with no sleep, I started having trouble focusing on the movies. Raiders is an awesome film but I honestly don’t remember watching large chunks of it. I know I was watching the screen and I was hearing what they were saying but I just wasn’t processing it. So when you watch a slow film or something that you have to really pay attention to it becomes extremely difficult to watch. Memento is a great film but it was pure torture at 2 am Sunday morning. However, as long as you are “watching” the film, you are safe. Plus, you can always make fun of the film with others or have running commentary in your head while watching it. So boredom is an issue but keeping your eyes open is the much bigger challenge. If you’re interested, wearemoviegeeks.com just posted my blog about the entire event. It might shed a little more light on the subject. I also posted some videos and photos from the event on my film’s website (areyoustucklikechuck.com). Thanks for asking. If you have any other questions, just let me know.
Adh

how can i beat it, what do i need to do to apply for this shit, i have 500gb of just movies
http://www.areyoustucklikechuck.com Jerry Cavallaro

As of right now, Netflix is not running the competition again. You can always contact Guinness and see if they can help you set up the world record attempt. But trust me, it is not at all as easy as it sounds.
jake

Wow that's nice! I wonder if there is a world record for watching the same movie at the movie theater .?
moviefan84

Do you know if this will ever be offered again? It would be an opportunity of a lifetime for me. Also, what movies were shown?
Tim

I need to learn to sleep with my eyes open like Gandalf.