'The Batman' 'Was Once Longer' Than Its Current 3-Hour Runtime, Director Reveals

The Batman was almost even more long-winded.

The new comic book adaptation debuts in theaters this week, with Robert Pattinson in the titular role and Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman. It was previously revealed that The Batman clocks in at 2 hours and 55 minutes including the credits — making it the longest Batman film to date.

Director Matt Reeves, in an interview with The New York Times, addressed the three-hour runtime, saying, "Once you see the movie, I think that ceases to be an issue. It's immersive, it takes you along and it keeps you engrossed."

"By the way, it was once longer," Reeves, 55, added of a previous cut of the movie.

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Speaking about a potential sequel, he told the outlet, "The events of the film would create the first glimmer of hope that the city has had in 20 years, but also smash the power vacuum apart. Where the story goes, for sure, I've had a lot of thoughts about that. But as I said, I need a nap."

Reeves' previous movies include 2008's Cloverfield, 2010's Let Me In, 2014's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and 2017's War for the Planet of the Apes.

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The filmmaker recently told Collider about screening the movie for test audiences before locking in the final version.

"They would come to a screening and then suddenly they realized they were seeing a Batman movie, and it showed how much love there is for Batman, which was so exciting for me," Reeves recalled. "Because of course, I've loved this since I was a kid and to be in an audience and have that big-screen experience after we've all been away from it for so long and to see people cheer and to see people get excited and then to see them get wrapped up."

"I mean, there'd be moments where there was just utter silence and you were like, 'Okay, people love Batman and they're into this,' and that was exciting. That to me was the best part of the testing," he added.

The Batman is in theaters Friday.