The Dark Knight may have racked up almost a billion dollars at the global box office this summer, and attracted the sort of glowing critical notices usually reserved only for, say, a Theo Walcott hat-trick (see? We can do topical), but Chris Nolan’s masterful comic book movie is still missing something.
Clue: there’s a lot of mantelshelf space in the Batcave that would look mighty nice adorned by a row of little gold statuettes.
And to help the Batman achieve his dreams of Oscar glory, Warner Bros. are in talks to re-release the film next January, just in time to remind Academy voters that it’s out there.
Warners domestic distribution president, Dan Fellman, confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter that the year’s biggest film is likely to come back on IMAX screens across the States, although it’s not clear if conventional theatres will also play the movie.
But if Warners harbour any hope of surpassing Titanic’s $600 million record haul at the domestic box office, a platform re-release might be their best bet of achieving, allied with a number of nominations and, in the best-case scenario, wins. If The Dark Knight finishes its current run with about $525-530, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that a re-release could chalk up the $70-75 million needed to beat James Cameron’s big boat movie.
Mind you, The Dark Knight will be out on DVD and Blu-Ray by then, so perhaps the movie’s drawing power will be severely diminished. But certainly, reminding Academy voters of the movie’s power, wonderful performances and technical excellence is not a bad shout.
Certainly, there’s been talk since the film was released that Heath Ledger was a shoo-in to receive a posthumous nomination, and likely win, for his work as The Joker. And technical nominations, from cinematography to editing to costume design, are almost certainly assured. But we’d like to see a little bit of love go the way of Chris Nolan for director, and again for screenplay, along with his brother, Jonah. And of course, it stands a great chance of being the first comic book movie to bag a nomination for the big one – Best Picture.
So, readers, do you agree with this? Has The Dark Knight legitimised the comic book movie sufficiently to warrant Oscar recognition? Does anyone else from the cast deserve a nod – how about Aaron Eckhart? Or Gary Oldman’s sublime turn as Jim Gordon? Or do you think this is all a load of tosh; that Oscar and spandex don’t mix?
As ever, post your thoughts below.