Clocking in at roughly 2 hours 55 minutes (with credits), The Batman is the longest solo big-screen outing for The Dark Knight yet, but it's now come to light that a shorter version of Matt Reeves' film does exist.
Deadline reports that an alternate cut of The Batman with a slightly less butt-numbing runtime was screened at one point, but didn’t "test as well" with audiences. We're not sure how shorter this version was or what scenes from the theatrical release were removed, however.
Though there have been a few complaints about film's length, it is pretty well paced for the most part. Some feel it could have trimmed a bit of fat from the final act, but the fact that a shorter version wasn't as well received suggests The Batman simply didn't have the same impact after losing certain moments.
At any rate, the lengthy runtime clearly hasn't dissuaded cinemagoers, as the DC Comics adaptation is still performing very well at the box office, and is likely to become just the second movie of the "pandemic era" to reach $1 billion worldwide.
Do you think The Batman is too long? Let us know in the comments, and check out a new Chinese poster for the movie below.