Amen to that. I don't see the need for a three hour film, especially if the film is based on an original story.
The LOTR films were based on the rather voluminous prose of Tolkien, and if anyone ever got around to making the Wheel of Time series into films, those might have to be four hours or longer to even crack the surface of the novels.
But if you are writing an original story, even if you are using established characters, you can set the length and depth, so there really is no need to stretch it out to three hours or more. Just trim some fat.
