Christopher Nolan’s summer blockbuster elevated genre films, and more specifically comic book adaptations, to a level previously thought to be unattainable for such films. With Oscar nominations a little more than a month away from being announced, fans and critics alike are eagerly anticipating several nominations for The Dark Knight, including Best Picture, Best Director for Nolan and a posthumous nomination for Heath Ledger for Best Supporting Actor for his role as The Joker.
“I think that the serious contenders in this movie, in my mind, are Heath, Chris for director because he's done an extraordinary job, and I do believe best picture, as well,” said star Christian Bale at a cocktail party held for filmmakers and critics last week.
Pulling in nearly $1 billion worldwide, the film was the clear winner at the box office this year, but will that be enough for the Oscar committee to turn their attention away from “prestigious highbrow literary” films such as Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon, Gus Van Sant's Milk and David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button? One can only speculate at this point
"It is a genre movie, but I think it goes beyond it with the themes in this movie," said Dark Knight co-star Aaron Eckhart. "It's an important movie sociologically. I feel like in this day and age, with terrorism and with the cancers of the city and people trying to find a voice within their own city, this is an important film. It's a Batman film, so it has that going for it. [But] it [also] has that going against it."
Oscar nomination are scheduled to debut on January 22, 2009, ironically one year to the day after the tragic death of Ledger by accidentally prescription drug overdose, with The Dark Knight set to return to theatres on January 23.