Director David Fincher is currently locking down his edit of the upcoming adaptation The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. While we know it will hit theaters on December 21, we don't know how long the movie will be, because David Fincher and Sony Pictures have vastly different ideas about the runtime.

David Fincher is said to have a three-hour cut of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but Sony wants the final cut to come in at two hours and twenty minutes. This type of runtime negotiation is typical between directors and studios, although the times aren't usually this far apart.

We still have two months before The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo hits theaters, so there is plenty of time to get this runtime situation figured out. If the ordeal escalates, it is possible that David Fincher may not return to direct the sequels, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

The director has been in this situation before, with a dispute between Paramount Pictures over how long The Curious Case of Benjamin Button should be. We'll have to wait and see how David Fincher's runtime battle with Sony plays out.