This week, it was confirmed that The Batman will have a runtime of 2 hours, 55 minutes. That makes it the second-longest superhero movie behind only Avengers: Endgame, and the lengthy runtime has generated a fair bit of discussion online.
Many fans are thrilled at the prospect of spending a few hours taking a deep dive into this adventure alongside Robert Pattinson's Caped Crusader, while others understandably have reservations about such a bum-numbing runtime. We won't know until we see the movie whether it's overlong and bloated, or if that three hours whizzes by in what certainly looks like a compelling detective story.
However, if three hours is too much for you, what about four?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Some test screenings showed an early, four-hour cut." That's up there with Zack Snyder's Justice League, though it's not uncommon for movies to have very lengthy early cuts. What is surprising is that Warner Bros. screened them, especially as that would be a hard sell for casual moviegoers and a runtime that would put a dent in box office takings.
Three hours seems like a fairly happy compromise, though we can't help but wonder what a massive four-hour director's cut of The Batman could look like down the line. Fingers crossed, eh?
The Batman is set to be released in theaters on March 4.
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