A new report reveals that early The Batman test screenings showed a four-hour cut of the movie that was later trimmed down to just shy of three hours. The latest film centered on the Dark Knight serves as a reboot of the characters' movie franchise, with Matt Reeves co-writing and directing the project with Peter Craig and taking primary inspiration from Year One, The Long Halloween, Ego and Zero Year. Reeves' The Batman centers on Bruce Wayne in his second year of fighting crime as the titular vigilante as he grapples with a tangled web of corruption in Gotham City with ties to his family and a serial killer known as The Riddler targeting Wayne and other members of Gotham's elite.

Robert Pattinson is donning the cape and cowl for The Batman with the rest of the ensemble cast including Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Paul Dano as The Riddler, Jeffrey Wright as Gotham City Police Lieutenant Jim Gordon, John Turturro as crime lord Carmine Falcone, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth and Coin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot before he's known as The Penguin. Though originally developed as a solo film for the DC Extended Universe, Ben Affleck's retirement from the role saw Reeves re-work the film as completely disconnected from the DCEU. Reeves is also reportedly developing a trilogy for The Batman with two spin-off TV projects centered on the GCPD and Farrell's Penguin also in development for HBO Max.

Related: Catwoman Is The Batman's Biggest Villain Challenge

In the latest edition of THR's Heat Vision newsletter, it was revealed that early test screenings of The Batman were showed a four-hour cut of the movie. The report didn't indicate how those in attendance of these showings responded to the early cut of Reeves' film. The Batman would ultimately see its runtime trimmed down to two hours and 55 minutes, making it the longest Batman movie ahead of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises.

The Batman Robert Pattinson

If the film had retained its early test screenings runtime, The Batman would have become the second-longest superhero movie ever released, falling just shy of Zack Snyder's Justice League that ran for four hours and two minutes. Though the extended cut of the DCEU team-up film did receive better reviews than its theatrical predecessor for giving more time to develop its characters, it still received plenty of criticism for the runtime, which many reviewers felt to still be too long. While the report for The Batman's early test screenings don't indicate how audiences felt about the longer film, its shortened runtime may be an indicator of their reactions.

That being said, many critics and audiences have still shared their concerns for The Batman clocking in at just shy of three hours long, featuring eight minutes of credits following two hours and 47 minutes of actual story. Given the film's balancing of Wayne learning of his family's dark past and Batman hunting down The Riddler in a detective story, some are eager to see Reeves' full vision while others are understandably critical of the movie overstaying its welcome. Only time will tell how the runtime goes over with reviewers and audiences when The Batman hits theaters on March 4.

More: The Batman Runtime Continues A Trend That Started AFTER Burton's Movies

Source: Heat Vision

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