With The Batman due to arrive next spring, fans are keeping their fingers crossed that the Matt Reeves movie won’t be another DCEU disaster and will take the Bat-franchise back to the heights of the Christopher Nolan trilogy. The problem is that Warner Bros. is no doubt eager for this, too, meaning Reeves is reportedly having to endure a lot of studio interference. The latest rumor, for instance, points to WB pressing the director to streamline his film.
Redditor u/SpideyForever245 has proven reliable with his scoops in the past – for one, he revealed Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Falcon and the Winter Soldier cameo ahead of time – so it’s worth paying attention to his posts. And while recently sharing some inside info on The Batman, the tipster said that the Robert Pattinson vehicle is currently over 3 hours in length and WB wants Reeves to cut it down to size.
This isn’t the most scandalous of this Redditor’s recent claims, either, which have pointed to some apparent clashes between the director, star and studio. And while it’s hardly uncommon for a movie’s initial cut to be a bit on the long side and for some further pruning to be required, it’s true that WB has a history of irritating their filmmakers by forcing them to get their productions under 2 hours and 30 minutes. Patty Jenkins has opened up about her experience on Wonder Woman 1984, and obviously we all know what happened with Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman and Justice League.
If The Batman‘s current runtime is around 180 minutes, though, then it’s likely that roughly half an hour will have to be chopped out. Hopefully it won’t be to the movie’s detriment and the flow of the story will be able to be kept in tact. And, in any case, an extended edition could feasibly end up on HBO Max at some point if there’s enough of a call for it. Ideally, though, The Batman we see in theaters next March will be the best possible version of the pic.
